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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)