* TSX down 124.54 points, or 0.93 percent, to 13,259.15
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups are lower
TORONTO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell
1 percent on Thursday, extending its losses for a third straight
session and tracking foreign markets increasingly nervous about
global growth.
Fallout from the Volkswagen (XETRA:VOWG) AG VOWG_p.DE emissions
test-fixing scandal also spilled over, with auto parts maker
Magna International Inc MG.TO among the biggest drags on the
index. Shares sank 5.7 percent to C$58.30 as analysts noted the
company's exposure to VW. CIBC cut its rating on the company to
sector performer from outperformer. The overall consumer
discretionary group retreated 2.1 percent.
At 11:04 a.m. EDT (1504 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE fell 139.32 points, or 1.04
percent, to 13,244.37.
The TSX, which can be particularly sensitive to commodity
prices due to its high concentration of resource names, has been
particularly volatile over the last month amid growing worries
that slowing global growth will hurt demand for commodities.
Financial shares were down 1 percent, while energy stocks
were off 0.2 percent.
The materials sector, home to resource firms, was the lone
gainer among the index's 10 main groups, climbing 1.8 percent on
the back of rallying gold mining stocks. The price of gold rose
to a three-week high after the U.S. dollar softened on soft
economic data.
Goldcorp Inc G.TO jumped 5.7 percent to C$17.69, while
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO surged 7.0 percent to C$8.45.
The always influential Valeant Pharmaceutical International
VRX.TO had the biggest negative pull on the in TSX, falling
3.4 percent to C$279.88. Healthcare retreated 2.5 percent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the TSX by
186 to 58, for a 3.21-to-1 ratio on the downside. The index was
posting 2 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows.