The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) turned lower to start off this week.
It seems that not even a surge in oil prices was enough to overcome lingering fears of a slowdown in China; at midafternoon on Monday, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 82.90 points at 13,782.17.
Conversely, the TSX’s energy sector performed positively, increasing by 2.26 per cent. This also benefited Canada’s oil-sensitive dollar, which went up to 75.87 cents U.S.
New York markets also turned lower this week, with The Dow Jones industrial average plunging 128.04 points to 16,514.97, while the S&P 500 index increased 16.20 points to 1,972.67. Additionally, the Nasdaq fell 41.12 points to 4,787.21.
This decline follows a top Federal Reserve Board official’s comments that a September rate hike is still feasible, even despite the recent volatility of world markets.
Meanwhile, it was another unstable day on Asian markets. The Shanghai Composite Index—China’s largest—closed down 0.8 per cent after being down 2.6 per cent earlier in the session. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also spent most of the day in the red before closing up 0.3 per cent, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.3 per cent.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 0.4 per cent and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.5 per cent. Markets in Britain were closed for a holiday. CJ
