North American stocks opened sharply lower on Monday, on par with a drop in global equities, as investors worried recent market gains may have outpaced the economic recovery.

Sinking oil and metals prices dragged the resource heavy Toronto Stock Exchange sharply lower.

Shortly after the open, the Toronto Stock Exchange composite index was down 327.66 points, or 3.02%, at 10,520.35.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 172.31 points, or 1.85%, to 9,143.95. The S&P 500 dropped 22.17 points, or 2.21%, to 981.92. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 45.07 points, or 2.27%, to 1,940.45.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 3.1%, despite news that Japan has climbed out of recession.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 3.6%.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 index backed was off 2%, Frankfurt’s DAX lost 2.2% and the Paris CAC 40 was down 2.7%.

IE