(Adds market developments, analyst's comments)
* TSX down 162.58 points, or 1.15 percent, to 14,031.29
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups lower
By Solarina Ho
TORONTO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell
more than 1 percent on Wednesday with financial and energy
shares suffering heavy losses as oil prices sank on rising U.S.
inventories while concern about China's economy continued to
rattle the market.
The index's slide, its eighth in 10 sessions, tracked falls
on stock markets around the world. U.S. indexes were also down
by about 1 percent.
"Canada's a victim of the rest of the world ... Certainly
oil hitting new lows is not good for our market," said Philip
Petursson, managing director, capital markets and strategy, at
the portfolio advisory group at Manulife Asset Management.
Crude prices sank to nearly 6-1/2-year lows after U.S. data
showed an unexpected rise in stockpiles. U.S. crude CLc1
prices were down 3.8 percent at $41 a barrel late on Wednesday
morning.
About half of the weight of the Toronto stock market's key
index is comprised of financial and energy names. This does not
bode well for the market, Petursson said, noting that a
combination of factors were hurting financial stocks, including
banks' ties to commodities-related companies and the low
interest rate environment.
About three-quarters of the index's top 20 decliners were
energy and financial names. Oil and gas shares sank 3.7 percent,
while financials retreated 1.1 percent.
Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO fell 1.8 percent to C$59.55.
Among oil companies, Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO was down 2.8
percent at C$35.32, and Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO
dropped 4.2 percent to C$28.72.
Still, Petursson noted that energy company shares have held
up better than oil itself, but warned that could be a lag effect
and that another round of cost cuts could lie ahead, further
hurting the energy sector.
At 11:32 a.m. EDT (1532 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 162.58 points, or
1.15 percent, at 14,031.29.
Nine of the index's 10 main groups lost ground, with
declining issues outnumbering advancers by 202 to 43, for a
4.70-to-1 ratio on the downside. The index was posting three new
52-week highs and 30 new lows.
"This effort by China (to devalue the yuan), we see it as an
act to help support the export market at a time when the major
developed economies are competing for exports. But who's doing
the buying?" Petursson said. "Overall, that will weigh on
commodities and weigh on the Canadian market going into next
year."
Materials, home to gold-mining companies, was the lone
gaining sector, propped up by higher prices for the safe-haven
precious metal. GOL/
Goldcorp Inc G.TO led the top 20 gainers, most of which
were gold miners. Goldcorp jumped 4.2 percent to C$20.09.
($1=$1.32 Canadian)