Toronto fell again on Friday as a drop in U.S. consumer sentiment sent investors heading for the exits. The S&P/TSX composite index shed 43.57 points to end the week at 6,819.76. It was the market’s fifth-straight loss, and its lowest close since Oct. 1, 2001.

Investor confidence has been rattled by a string of corporate accounting scandals involving a number of major U.S. firms.

And while the Canadian economy looks strong, doubts about the speed of a U.S. economic recovery has dampened sentiment.

On Friday the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index for July fell to 86.5, its lowest level since November 2001, down from 92.4 in June.

In Toronto, six of the TSX index’s 10 groups closed lower, led by a 1.3% dip in the financial index and a 1.2% in consumer staples. Utility stocks notched up a 1%
loss.

The TSX metals, real estate groups were also off more than 1%. The health-care sector was up 1.6% and the information technology group rose 0.8%.

CIBC fell 80¢ to $46.20, while Bank of Montreal slipped 55¢ to $34.45.

Nortel Networks rose 10¢ to $2.29 on volume of 38.7 million shares after insider-trading reports showed directors and officers of the company have bought nearly two million Nortel shares in the past month.

Overall, declining stocks beat advances 578 to 449 with 195 unchanged in trading of 157.7 million shares.

The TSX Venture Exchange declined 3.99 points to 1,127.50.

In New York, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 117 points, or 1.33 percent, to 8,684.53, after opening higher and then dropping 2 percent. The S&P 500 index ended down 5.98 points at to 921.39.

The Nasdaq Composite ended off 0.94 point at 1,373.49. The technology-packed index had rallied more
than 2 percent during the session only to fall back at the close.

Favourable news from General Electric and Dell Computer was overpowered by the reaction to the weaker consumer confidence report.

The Canadian dollar ended sharply lower on Friday. The loonie finished at US65.23¢, down from US65.66¢ at Thursday’s close.