(Adds portfolio manager comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 263.33 points, or 1.92 percent, to 13,473.67
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Solarina Ho and Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index sank
to its lowest in 18 months on Friday, capping a week of rapid
retreat on persistently grim global sentiment following more
disappointing data out of China.
Global equity markets plummeted toward their worst week this
year, while the beating in commodities continued as data out of
China showed manufacturing in the country was slowing at the
fastest pace since the financial crisis in 2009.
The commodities-heavy TSX took another drubbing, with energy
stocks falling 1.5 percent and materials sliding 2.9 percent.
The hefty financials group, whose banks report quarterly results
next week, fell 1.9 percent.
"There's not a lot of positive things that support the
equity price," said Marcus Xu, a portfolio manager at M.Y.
Capital Management Corp in Vancouver. "That's probably why
people are getting a little panicked."
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed down 263.33 points, or 1.92 percent, at
13,473.67. It lost almost 6 percent in the week, its worst
weekly slump since September 2011.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 224 to 21, and the index
posted two new 52-week highs and 70 new 52-week lows.
"We're really breaking some really key levels. It's a sign
that we're in a very severe correction," said John Johnston,
chief strategist at Davis-Rea. "It's being driven by a continued
slowdown in the global production cycle, which is so important
for the demand for commodities."
He said weakness in emerging markets could drag the global
economy into a recession.
Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO fell 2.7 percent to
C$26.80.
Crude prices suffered their longest losing streak since 1986
following the dismal Chinese data, which also sent copper prices
down. U.S. oil futures CLc1 settled down more than 2 percent
to $40.45 a barrel after falling as low as $39.86. Three-month
copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange ended down 1.3
percent to $5,055 a tonne.
Of the index's 10 main groups, only telecoms were on higher
ground, up 0.8 percent. All the remaining sectors fell more than
1 percent, including consumer staples, which slumped 2.7
percent.
Convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard
ATDb.TO lost 5.9 percent to C$54.58.
Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO fell 1.7 percent to C$72.80 and
was among the biggest drags on the TSX. Manulife Financial Corp
MFC.TO was down 4.1 percent at C$20.46.
In corporate news, Eldorado Gold Corp ELD.TO shares
plunged 14 percent to C$4.48 after the company said on Thursday
it suspended mining activities in northern Greece.