Oct. 23, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

The Toronto stock market was down sharply mid-afternoon Friday led by a selloff in energy stocks as oil prices fell and despite strong earnings reports in the U.S. tech sector. Soon before the closing bell, the S&P/TSX Composite index had let go of 173.44 points, or 1.5%, to 11,359.93. The Canadian dollar was down a day after Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said the sharply higher currency is putting a brake on the country's economy recovery. And he made it clear that "intervention is always an option" to control the rise of the loonie, which came within about 2.5 cents of regaining parity with the U.S. dollar a week ago. The TSX energy sector slipped as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell. Crude prices had shot up more than three per cent earlier this week to a one-year high on optimism an economic recovery is taking root. EnCana Corp. lost $1.81 to $63.06. Mining stocks were little changed as the December copper contract in New York rose 3.6 cents to $3.03 U.S. a pound while December bullion was off. The tech sector fell, with market heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd. down $1.30 to $69.53. Shares in electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc. fell 72 cents to $8.93 as the firm generated a small third-quarter loss, reversing a year-earlier profit, as revenues took a hit from the recession and the company booked higher restructuring costs from earlier job cuts. Other earnings reports included an advance warning from fertilizer company Agrium Inc., which said it expects third-quarter earnings will be 90-95% below what they were a year ago when the full report is issued on Nov. 4. Agrium attributes the decline to lower prices and margins for all three categories of fertilizer that it produces and its shares fell $4.30 or 7.2% to $55.43. Shaw Communications Inc. shares fell 72 cents to $19.85 as it said net income was $124 million or 29 cents a share for the three months ended Aug. 31, down 6.3% from $132.3 million or 31 cents a share in the year-ago period. Annual net income was $535.2 million, down 20.3% from $671.6 million in fiscal 2008. Earlier this week, Canadian National Railway reported a 13% drop in third-quarter profit. Its shares were down $1.15 to $53. The Canadian dollar dropped 0.48 cents to 94.97 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All 14 TSX subgroups finished the day downward. The biggest loser was the energy group, off 2.2%, followed by information technology, which lost 2.1% and industrials, off 1.6%. The TSX Venture Exchange settled back 2.47 points to 1,331.72, while the Nasdaq Canada index dropped 17.86 points to 696.57.