RE: Did Scotia dump to paint the close red?"Perhaps you're right about red painting the numbers but I can't think of a likely reason or reasons for that. "
Two immediate reasons spring to mind:
i. Financing - when equity financing is involved, typically the additional share issue price is based (some coefficient) upon the average closing price of the stock over a predetermined period. Driving down the average share price entitles the financier to a greater stake in the comapny.
ii. M&A - driving down the average share price can be used to make the acquisition far cheaper and more likely to be accepted by dejected majority shareholders