* TSX ends down 137.73 points, or 1 percent, at 13,704.19
* Seven of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A plunge in shares of Valeant
Pharmaceuticals International Inc VRX.TO helped push Canada's
main stock index down 1 percent on Wednesday, with falls in the
price of oil and other commodities weighing on energy and mining
stocks.
Valeant slid 19.2 percent to C$154.21 after an influential
short-seller accused the company of using specialty pharmacies
to inflate its revenue, an allegation the drugmaker denied.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12L1OH It fell as much as 40 percent during the session.
After Valeant, 23 of the next 25 most influential decliners
were either energy or materials stocks.
The other top non-resource weight was technology company
Celestica Inc CLS.TO , which fell 15.2 percent to C$14.45 after
its earnings and outlook missed expectations. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPn6vV3X9
"This market is getting more difficult to move on," said
Kevin Headland, a director of capital markets and strategy at
Manulife Asset Management.
"Based on North American valuations, the S&P 500 and TSX -
valuations are fair to high. You have to look at specific
individual companies and try to unearth some value there."
The energy group retreated 3.3 percent and materials, which
includes miners, retreated 2.5 percent.
Oil prices slid 2 percent to a three-week low as U.S. crude
inventories grew, while weak demand from China weighed on prices
for copper and iron ore. O/R MET/L IRONORE
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended down 137.73 points, or 1.00 percent, at
13,704.19, with seven of its 10 main groups lower and the
influential financials sector flat.
"I'd expect a flat market between here and the end of the
year," Headland said, citing little impetus for heavyweight
energy, mining and financial stocks to move higher.
The most influential gainers included telecom companies BCE
Inc BCE.TO , which rose 1.2 percent to C$58.22, and Telus Corp
T.TO , which added 1.3 percent to C$43.47.