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MARKETS LIVE BLOG:

STOCKS CLIMB WITH U.S. JOBS DATA FRONT OF MIND

Oil prices rise amid Hurricane Beryl concerns, Middle East tensions

TSX falls the most since March as U.S. downgrade spooks investors

Fergal Smith
Updated ·2 min read
The facade of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building is seen in Toronto

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index fell to a two-week low on Wednesday, with the technology sector leading broad-based declines as Fitch's move to downgrade the U.S. government's credit rating spooked investors globally.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 314.72 points, or 1.5%, at 20,218.21. It was the biggest decline since March 15 and the lowest closing level since July 17.

The U.S. downgrade "put all of the markets globally on a bit of notice and with that the fears of recession are a little bit more extended," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.

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Wall Street also dropped as Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA.

All of the Toronto market's 10 major sectors lost ground, including a near 4% drop in technology as e-commerce company Shopify Inc ended down nearly 7%.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 2.3% as gold and copper prices fell.

Oil settled 2.3% lower at $79.49 a barrel, weighing on the energy sector. It fell 1.7% and heavily-weighted financials ended 1.1% lower.

"You can buy a lot of yield currently that hasn't been available in years in fairly stable, strong financial stocks. And there are better buys to be had, certainly in energy," Sprung said. "Overall, I think there are places to be, it's just that you're going to have to live through a bit of a painful period here."

Britain's competition regulator said it was investigating Cameco Corp and Brookfield Renewable Partners' $7.9 billion deal to acquire nuclear power plant equipment maker Westinghouse Electric. Cameco's shares lost 3.5% and Brookfield Renewable Partners was down 4.7%.

Shares of Thomson Reuters Corp were a bright spot, rising 1.7% after the company reported higher sales and operating profit in the second quarter.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Milla Nissi and Grant McCool)