CANADA STOCKS-TSX rattled by weak oil, political turmoil

TORONTO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index fell to its lowest close in two weeks on Thursday as a slide in oil prices shook the resource-heavy market, while the suspension of Canada's Parliament weighed on sentiment.

Oil prices fell more than 6 percent to their lowest level in almost four years, pulling Toronto's heavily weighted energy sector down 7.46 percent.

A decision by Canada's governor general to grant Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request that Parliament be suspended until Jan. 26, amid opposition attempts to bring down his government, hurt sentiment since it likely means there will be no government plan to stimulate the economy until at least the new year.

The S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE closed down 239.14 points, or 2.88 percent, at 8,057.82 with seven of its 10 subindexes finishing lower.

Toronto's key index is now down 13 percent this week after falling in four consecutive sessions, including a whopping 864-point skid on Monday.

Shares of oil company Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which fell 13.45 percent to C$41.00, were the biggest drag on the index, followed by oil company EnCana Corp (ECA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which dropped 5.79 percent to C$49.82.

"Commodity prices are weak so that was a problem," said Tim Burt, president and chief investment officer at Cardinal Capital Management Inc in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

"And then with the government being suspended until Jan. 26 it basically means that we're not going to get any initiative out of Ottawa to try and stimulate the economy."

Some stimulus could come from the Bank of Canada, which is scheduled to announce its latest interest rate decision on Dec. 9. The central bank has slashed its key rate by 225 basis points since December, leaving its overnight rate at 2.25 percent.

A 2.45 percent slide by the financial sector, which makes up about third of the TSX index, was also a key driver behind the market's latest selloff.

The drop in the financial index came after three of the four Canadian banks that reported reporting quarterly earnings on Thursday posted lower profits and offered little in the way of outlook for 2009.

Shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 1.36 percent to C$41.92, while National Bank shares dropped 6 percent to close at C$35.55.

Equities open lower, Sensex down 187 points

Mumbai (IANS): Indian equities markets opened marginally lower on Friday and then slid into negative territory on weak global cues with a key index down 187 points some two hours into trading.

Two hours into trading, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was ruling at 9,042.61, down 187.14 points or 2.03 per cent from its previous close on Thursday at 9,229.75 points.

The Sensex opened some 25 points lower at 9,204.69 points, hit a high of 9,340.69 before slipping to its current value.

The broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also showed a similar trend and was ruling at 2740.50, down 47.5 points or 1.70 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 2788.00 points.

The BSE midcap index was ruling at 2,909.65, down 13.15 points or 0.45 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 2,922.80 points.

The BSE smallcap index was, however, still in the green and was ruling at 3,333.27, up 1.47 points or 0.04 per cent from its previous close Thursday at 3,331.80 points.

Overnight U.S. markets closed in the red with a key index of the New York Stock Exchange finishing 3.21 per cent lower. The Nasdaq index closed 3.14 per cent lower than its previous close Wednesday.

Asian markets were mixed with the Nikkei, key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ruling 0.08 per cent lower but the Hang Seng, key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was showing gains of 1.93 per cent.

The underlying sentiment is still very much negative and so despite the surge Thursday, markets are again in a bear grip, analysts said.

Karachi Stock Exchange: Trading activities remain limited

Lacklustre trading activities prevailed unabatedly at the Karachi stock market on Wednesday as the economic turmoil and tight monetary policy of SBP remained a concern for investors, analysts said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index remained unchanged at 9,187.10 points. However, the KSE 30 index shed 23.12 points and closed at 9958.81 points as compared to 9981.93 points of the previous session. The KMI 30 index also remained unchanged at 11,224.18 points respectively.
The market turnover lost 108.12 percent and traded 0.041 million shares as compared to 0.197 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market capitalisation declined by 0.07 percent and traded Rs 2.818 trillion as against Rs 2.820 trillion traded in the previous session. Out of 17 companies, two closed in the positive zone, six in negative while nine remained unchanged.
Analysts said that the depressed activities are expected to continue, as the bailout funds would take time for the IMF approval.
KSE’s proposal to lift floor on Dec 8 and funds arrangement to bailout the market failed to boost investors’ confidence as they wait for the outcome of various proposals sent to the SECP by the KSE’s management.
They said flag of hope came to half mast as reply to the proposal of ‘unfreezing’ from the final authority IMF is still awaited and a handful of optimists are losing the spirit as the views from the privileged (having access to the ultimate developments) suggest delay.
In the off market transactions, it was a healthy atmosphere, but the buyers were hard to find even at extended discounts, thus indicting that incase of further delay in regular opening the blue chip stocks will be trading at the rates of ‘peanuts’.
The only option left to restrict unprecedented decline is to completely shut down the operations at the KSE and give sufficient time to the authorities to address the likely threats on opening.
Pak Com Leas was the volume leader in the share market with 0.085 million shares as it closed at 56 paisas after opening at 56 paisas with no change in its value.
Habib-ADM traded 0.085 million shares as it closed at Rs 9.36 after opening at Rs 9.74 losing eight paisas. Pak Datacom Ltd traded 0.058 million shares as it closed at Rs 51.31 after opening at Rs 51.41 shedding 10 paisas.
Sitara Energy Ltd traded 0.50 million shares as it closed at Rs 20.52 after opening at Rs 19.62 gaining 90 paisas. Colony (Thal) traded 0.02 million shares as it closed at Rs 3.25 after opening at Rs 3.25 with no change in its value.
Like previous sessions, futures market continued to remain static as no activity was witnessed during the session.