Canada’s main stock index fell to its lowest level in nearly four months on Wednesday, with industrial and financial stocks leading broad-based declines in a period of seasonal weakness for the commodities-linked market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 94.4 points, or 0.4%, at 21,516.90, in lower-than-usual volumes as U.S. markets closed for the celebration of June 19.
This is the lowest closing level for the TSX since February 29. The index is down 3.4% since the start of the month.
Historical seasonal trends show the TSX is weak in June, said Sid Mokhtari, chief markets technician for CIBC Capital Markets.
“There is a tactical buying opportunity for July, given that a lot of things are oversold, but I don’t necessarily believe we’re going to get back into an (upward) trend at this point,” Mr. Mokhtari.
The TSX’s recent decline occurred despite gains on Wall Street. On Tuesday, the benchmark S&P 500 index hit a record closing high.
All ten major sectors in the Toronto market lost ground on Wednesday, with the industrial sector falling almost 1% and the heavily weighted financial sector finishing down 0.5%.
The interest rate-sensitive real estate sector lost 0.7% as the Bank of Canada said it had considered the merits of waiting an additional month to begin cutting interest rates before to decide to ease its monetary policy on June 5.
The energy sector fell 0.2% as oil prices fell after hitting a seven-week high, falling 0.1% to $81.47 a barrel. (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Writing by Marguerita Choy and Chris Reese)
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