Toronto market falls for second day as metal miners slide

By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index extended its pullback from a record high on Thursday, pressured by declines for technology and metal mining shares, as investors took stock of recent gains for the market.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 124.41 points, or 0.5%, at 22,726.76, its second straight day of losses after it posted an all-time high on Tuesday.

"I don't think there is any specific catalyst," said Barry Schwartz, chief investment officer at Baskin Wealth Management. "We've had a hell of a run up and this is just the pause that refreshes."

U.S. stocks were also lower as investors continued to rotate away from high-priced megacap growth stocks and second-quarter earnings season gathered steam.

"The elements are still in place for multi-year strong returns on markets. Inflation has been tamed, interest rates I'm certain are going to be cut globally in the next few months or so ... it's just we got pretty spicy in terms of valuations for a lot of companies," Schwartz said.

Data on Tuesday showed that Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in June from 2.9% in May, leading to increased bets the Bank of Canada would cut interest rates for a second time at a policy decision next week.

The materials group, which includes metal miners and fertilizer companies, lost 2% as the prices of gold and copper fell, with the latter tumbling to a three-month low. Technology was down 1.1% and consumer discretionary ended 1.4% lower.

Not all stocks lost ground. Shares of Tenaz Energy Corp jumped 56.4% after the company agreed to acquire all shares of NAM Offshore B.V., which operates the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Deepa Babington)