TSX ends lower as Fed rate cut spurs profit taking

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index edged lower on Wednesday as lower oil prices weighed on energy shares and investors took stock of recent market gains, with some taking profit after the U.S. Federal Reserve began its interest rate cutting campaign.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 85.10 points, or 0.4%, at 23,592.60. On Monday, the index posted a record closing high at 23,702.07.

The Fed cut interest rates by half of a percentage point, kicking off what is expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy with a larger-than-usual reduction in borrowing costs that followed growing unease about the health of the job market.

"We've had a really nice rally into this expected release today. Oftentimes you get a sell-on-news type environment and I think that's a little bit of what we're seeing," said Mike Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments.

U.S. stocks also closed lower after choppy trading.

"The real story is going to continue to evolve around what happens in the macro environment," Archibald said. "Does the economy still manage to hang in and meet these soft landing expectations that the Fed has?"

The energy sector fell 0.5% as the price of oil settled 0.4% lower at $70.91 a barrel.

The price of gold also fell. That weighed on metal mining shares, with the materials group ending 0.8% lower.

Industrials lost 0.7% and heavily weighted financials were down 0.3%.

In corporate news, Rogers Communications reached a deal to buy BCE Inc's stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). Shares of Rogers fell 2.7%, while BCE's shares were up 3.3%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Will Dunham)