An admission from Greece that it won’t be able to meet its deficit targets sent markets tumbling on Monday.
At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index was down by about 166 points, or 1.43 per cent, to 11,458.
In the U.S., optimism over better-than-expected manufacturing numbers for September was warring with pessimism over the Greek debt crisis, minimizing the market decline south of the border.
At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 16 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 10,898, and the Nasdaq composite index was off by 11 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 2,404.
The price of crude oil fell 28 cents to $78.92 US a barrel in New York trading at midday, while gold advanced $29.70 to $1,652.00 US an ounce.
The Canadian dollar, which hit its lowest point in more than a year on Friday, was ahead by 20 basis points to 95.60 cents US in late-morning trading.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei lost 1.78 per cent in Monday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 4.38 per cent. London’s FTSE dropped 1.03 per cent, the CAC in Paris slipped 1.85 per cent and the DAX in Frankfurt declined 2.28 per cent.
