TSX gets slapped as commodity prices fall hard

By Frank Pingue

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index fell more than 3 percent on Monday as tumbling commodity prices rattled the resource-heavy index and knocked it to its lowest closing level in two weeks.

The market tumbled more than 100 points at the open and was never able to recover as prices for key Canadian exports such as oil and gold were hammered throughout the session.

"It's been red since they rang the bell this morning," said Bruce Latimer, a trader at Dundee Securities. "You've got gold down, oil down, commodities down and the Canadian dollar is down and that's going to take our market with it."

The slide was headlined by sharp selloffs in the energy and materials sectors, which together make up about 40 percent of the overall index.

The materials group, which is home to gold-mining stocks, led the market lower with a 6.41 percent skid, followed by a 3.98 percent drop in the energy sector.

Weighing on gold-mining stocks was a 4 percent drop in gold prices to a one-month low as the U.S. dollar rallied against the euro on expectations of an interest rate cut in the euro zone later this week.

Shares of Goldcorp (G.TO: Quote) fell 6 percent to C$30.40, while Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO: Quote) shares dropped 3 percent to C$37.99, and Kinross Gold (K.TO: Quote) shares fell 3.45 percent to C$20.41.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE closed down 291.85 points, or 3.21 percent, at 8,793.33.