(Adds portfolio manager comment, details; updates prices)
* TSX ends down 278.59 points, or 2.19 percent, at 12,448.21
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Canada's benchmark stock index
slid on Thursday to its lowest level in nearly two-and-a-half
years as investors worried about China's equities market and oil
prices pushed ever lower.
Losses were broad and deep, with energy stocks retreating
4.2 percent, industrials shedding 2.5 percent and financials
down 2.2 percent. Thirty-nine stocks posted fresh 52-week lows.
"Right now people are taking maximum negativity and
factoring that out into the marketplace," said Irwin Michael, a
portfolio manager at ABC Funds. "The path of least resistance is
down."
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended the day down 278.59 points, or 2.19 percent, at
12,448.21.
That was its seventh straight decline and sharpest one-day
loss since Dec. 7, pushing the index to its lowest level since
August 2013.
Of the 10 main sectors, only the materials group closed in
positive territory, thanks to gains in gold miners as bullion
hit a seven-week high. GOL/
Tumult in China, where equities trading was suspended for a
second time this week, has hurt markets across the globe as
investors worry about weaker demand from the world's
second-largest economy. MKTS/GLOB
Oil slid below $33 a barrel as China's troubles added to
concerns about near-record production and massive stockpiles of
unwanted crude and refined products. O/R
The most influential weights on the Canadian index included
Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO , which lost 6.2 percent to
C$27.53, and Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO , which declined 2.4
percent to C$33.30.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices settled down 2.1 percent at $33.27
a barrel, while Brent LCOc1 lost 1.6 percent to $33.69 a
barrel.
Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO declined 1.8 percent to C$70.25
and Toronto-Dominion Bank
the top five gainers of the index were all precious metal
miners. GOL/
Copper prices CMCU3 declined 2.1 percent to $4,524.15 a
tonne. MET/L
(Editing by G Crosse)