Higher crude and gold prices couldn’t help Canada’s main stock index from sinking to start the trading week as heightened Covid-19 fears continued to grip investors.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 632.32 points or 5.3% on the day to close at 11,228.49.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 582.05 points at 18,591.93. The S&P 500 index was down 67.52 points at 2,237.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 18.84 points at 6,860.67.

The Canadian dollar traded for US69.05¢ compared with an average of US69.77¢ on Friday.

The May crude contract was up US73¢ at US$23.36 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down 0.2 of a cent at US$1.67 per mmBTU.

The April gold contract was up US$83 at US$1,567.60 an ounce and the May copper contract was down US7.1¢ at US$2.10 a pound.