Toronto stock market, Canadian dollar, gold prices awash in losses

TORONTO — There was little refuge on the markets Friday, as the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Canadian dollar, oil and even gold — normally considered a safe haven in times of trouble — incurred losses.

The S&P/TSX composite index shed 206.38 points to 14,537.87 in mid-afternoon trading, a decline of 1.4 per cent.

Bullion prices left their mark. December gold contracts lost US$45 to trade at US$1,221.40 per ounce, marking a fifth day of losses for the precious metal.

Oil prices took a hit after OPEC said production among member countries increased last month to 33.64 million barrels per day, up by 240,000 bpd. December contracts for a barrel of crude were at US$43.45, a loss of US$1.21.

The loonie was at 73.91 cents US, down 0.26 of a U.S. cent from Thursday's close.

The picture was slightly brighter on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average crawled up 0.30 points to 18,808.18 and the Nasdaq composite rose by 12.43 points to 5,221.23. The S&P 500 was down 6.82 points to 2,160.66.

In other commodities, December natural gas was down two cents to US$2.61 per mmBTU and December copper lost four cents to US$2.51 per pound.

The Canadian Press