TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index was lower on Monday morning as a drop in oil and commodity prices weighed on the resource-heavy index.
The mining laden materials sector led the index's fall, dropping 2.77 percent. Potash Corp stock was the biggest drag on the index, down 4.3 percent to $94.87. Barrick Gold was down 2.7 percent at $35.87 and Goldcorp was down 2.7 percent at $37.32.
The energy sector sank 1.58 percent as the price of oil fell below $59 a barrel. EnCana shares fell 1.7 percent to $52.68, Suncor Energy was down 1.8 percent at $30.49 and Petro-Canada was down 1.5 percent at $38.75.
"A general theme with a weaker economy is, there is going to be less demand for commodities out of China," said Steve Ibel, institutional equities trader at Beacon Securities in Halifax.
At 10:39 a.m. EDT, the S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> was down 75.32 points, or 0.77 percent, at 9683.40. Seven of its 10 main groups were lower.
On the upside the financial sector was slightly higher, up 0.11 percent, as prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney upgraded Goldman Sachs Group Inc to "buy" in the United States.
Sun Life Financials was up 1.96 percent at $28.66 and Royal Bank of Canada rose 0.4 percent to $45.31.
"Meredith Whitney seems to be the financial analyst that people pay attention to," said Ibel.
"It will give the market a bit of a lift in the financial sector. But it probably will be a one day event."
