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As many as 38 of the 240 companies listed on the S&P/TSX composite index — the preeminent benchmark tracking the performance of Canada’s largest companies — were trading below $5 this week.

In other words, up to 15.8 per cent of this country’s dominant index, an important symbol of the nation’s economic might, would be considered a penny stock on most major U.S. exchanges, according to rules set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Depressed values for commodities and the collapse in oil prices to 12-year lows have severely crimped the performance of the S&P/TSX composite and decimated the S&P/TSX Venture composite index, which in mid-January sank to its lowest level ever.

It’s not so much an identity crisis as much as it may be a struggle for survival.

Given its unfettered dominant position at home, this is unchartered territory for TMX Group Inc., which owns and operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Venture and Alpha stock exchanges. Even before it became a for-profit company in 2000, its relevance and longevity have never been seriously questioned or tested.