TSX down 1 percent as Manulife shares unloaded

Thu Nov 19, 10:17 AM
TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index dropped more than 1 percent on Thursday, dragged down by Manulife Financial as investors reacted to a major stock offering by the insurer.
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(Reuters)

By Irene Kuan

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index dropped more than 1 percent on Thursday, dragged down by Manulife Financial as investors reacted to a major stock offering by the insurer.

Shares of Manulife Financial were down 7 percent at C$18.74, while fellow insurer Sun Life Financial dropped 4.5 percent to C$27.40.

After the markets closed on Wednesday Manulife, Canada's top life insurer, said it planned to issue C$2.5 billion ($2.3 billion) in equity.

"We've had such a strong market in a short period of time and often times, you just need a little trigger to get people to sell," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.

The TSX has rallied 54 percent since falling to a five year low in March.

At 10:15 a.m. (1515 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index was down 125.91 points, or 1.08 percent, at 11,526.78.

(Reporting by Irene Kuan; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)