The TSX fell a seventh straight day Thursday, off 279 points to 12,448.

That’s down over 2% on the day but off over 20% the record close of September 2014, which meets the definition of a bear market, ending a bull run that began back in 2013.

The triple-digit loss was triggered by another major selloff in the Far East.

China stopped trading for the second time in the first four business days of the new year.

Regulators introduced a ”circuit breaker” mechanism January 4.

They’re suspending it Friday.

Some economists feel it may be adding to market volatility because it has too low of a threshold.

The circuit breakers automatically pause trading for 15 minutes if a key index slips 5% and the mechanism stops it for the day when there’s a decline of 7%.