TORONTO — Canada's largest stock market is having another unsettled day following continued volatility in China.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index showed a triple-digit gain within the first 10 minutes of trading Wednesday but that quickly evaporated.
The S&P/TSX composite was down 19.22 points at 13,131.71 about 90 minutes after the open, a decline of 0.15 per cent.
The gold, metals and mining subindexes of the market were down the most — about three per cent.
The Canadian dollar, which had fallen to lows not seen in 11 years earlier in the week, was at 75.25 cents U.S. — up 0.32 after dropping nearly half a U.S. cent on Tuesday.
Major U.S. markets remained positive but off their early highs.
The Dow Jones average of 30 stocks was up by 256 points or 1.6 per cent at 15,923.13 — although it had been above 16,000 earlier. The broader S&P 500 index's gain also diminished to 31 points at 1,898.67, while the Nasdaq index was up 2.2 per cent or 88.76 points at just under 4,105, also below an earlier high.
On the commodity markets, the December gold contract fell $15.80 to US$1,122.50 an ounce and copper was down six cents to US$2.25 a pound. The October crude contract was down five cents at $39.15 a barrel and the October contract for natural gas was flat at US$2.70.
Stock markets around the world have been in flux this week, following deep plunges in China, where that country's main stock market index has fallen more than 40 per cent since early June.
On Wednesday, the Shanghai index fell another 1.2 per cent, following declines of 8.5 per cent on Monday and 7.6 per cent on Tuesday.
State media in China also reported Wednesday that employees of one of the country's biggest securities firms and one current and one former employee of its market regulator are under investigation on suspicion of illegal stock trading.
Three other brokerages announced they are under investigation for possible violations of rules on confirming the identities of customers.
