TORONTO, June 23 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index edged down on Tuesday as lower commodity prices and a tech-led selloff on Wall Street weighed on the market, with metal mining shares leading the declines.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 74.8 points, or 0.2%, at 34,927.38, after clawing back much of its earlier declines.
o The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 posted steeper declines, dragged down by sharp losses in semiconductor stocks as investors scrutinized growing debt-funded AI spending and braced for a more hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve.
o “You’ve got a broader tech selloff filtering into Canada, plus a selloff in commodity prices,” said Michael Dehal, senior portfolio manager at Dehal Investment Partners at Raymond James.
o “The TSX is largely commodities-driven (so) we’re getting hit from both ends of the spectrum,” Dehal said.
o The price of gold fell 1.9% as the U.S. dollar climbed to a 13-month high against a basket of major currencies on increased expectations of a Fed interest rate hike.
o Copper was down 3.4%, while oil settled 0.9% lower at $73.21 a barrel as investors kept a close watch on crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz following signs of progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks.
o The materials group tumbled 4.4%, while technology ended 0.4% lower.
o Shopify Inc will ban all vapes from its platform as soon as this week after pressure from a group of U.S. state attorneys general. Shares of the e-commerce company ended 0.2% higher.
o Seven of 10 major sectors notched gains, including consumer staples, which jumped 4.1%.
o Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc shares were up 11.7% after the convenience store operator’s quarterly results beat estimates.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda and Aurora Ellis)
By Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Fergal Smith