TORONTO – The Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index experienced its biggest loss — nearly 300 points — since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.

The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 263.26 points to 14,540.00. Earlier in the day, it briefly fell 300.36 points from Thursday’s close.

The last time the market saw a loss of such magnitude was on June 24, the day after the so-called Brexit vote. At that time, the index dropped 239.50 points and closed at 13,891.88.

New York stock markets also recorded large losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 394.46 points to 18,085.45, the Nasdaq composite lost 133.57 points to 5,125.91 and the S&P 500 shed 53.49 points at 2,127.81.

The Dow Jones hadn’t seen such a large loss since June 24, when it dropped 610.32 and closed at 17,400.75. The Nasdaq experienced a similar fall June 27 when it lost 113.54 points to 4,594.44, and the S&P 500 on June 24 when it shed 75.91 points to 2,037.41.

“It’s a question of asset prices,” said Patrick Blais, a senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

Investors are reconsidering price levels of assets now that there’s less help on the way from various central banks, Blais said. The European Central Bank, for example, said yesterday it would not extend the duration of its bond-buying stimulus program, surprising the markets.

The sectors that have most benefited from easy monetary policy, like telecoms, utilities, materials and energy, have been hit the most, Blais said.

“It’s not a surprise to see those names at the bottom end of the performance or those names selling off the most.”

The TSX was dragged down partly by falling gold, energy and materials stocks, including Crescent Point Energy, which topped the composite index’s biggest losers of the day.

Crescent Point Energy announced Friday it would sell 33.7-million common shares for $19.30 each to raise about $650 million. Its stock shed 10.41 per cent after the day’s trading.

The October crude contract fell $1.74 at US$45.88 per barrel after a rally Thursday when it gained more than $2. Those gains came following a U.S. Energy Information Administration report that showed a surprising decline of crude oil stockpiles.

The commodity retrenched today, said Blais, partly due to a questioning of the positive reaction yesterday.

The commodity-sensitive loonie dropped 0.65 of a cent to 76.70 cents US.

Elsewhere in commodities, October natural gas fell nearly a cent to US$2.80 per mmBTU, the December gold contract fell $7.10 to US$1,334.50 an ounce and December copper contracts were down three-quarters of a cent at US$2.09 a pound.

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Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect figure for the S&P/TSX composite index and natural gas prices.