By Fergal Smith
(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index ended lower for a fifth straight day on Friday, led by declines for the real estate and consumer discretionary sectors, as investors turned cautious ahead of a potentially volatile period for the market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 87.88 points, or 0.36%, at 24,463.67, extending its pullback from last Friday’s record high.
For the week, the TSX was down 1.45%. It was the first time since April the index has fallen for five straight days.
Still, it was up 1.93% since the beginning of October.
“We had a really good start to the month,” said Greg Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments. “We pulled forward a lot of good news and now people are bracing for some volatility in the next few weeks.”
Wall Street has been unsettled this week by a rapid rise in U.S. bond yields, while uncertainty around the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election has also made investors cautious after markets started pricing in a second Donald Trump administration in recent weeks.
Canada’s immigration reduction targets announced this week will likely have an impact on the Bank of Canada’s growth forecast, Governor Tiff Macklem said, but cautioned the bank was yet to analyze the numbers.
On Wednesday, the BoC cut interest rates by an unusually large half a percentage point to support the economy.
The real estate and consumer discretionary sectors both fell 0.9% on Friday, while the materials group, which includes gold mining shares, was down 0.72%.
Mali has accused Barrick Gold Corp of failing to abide by commitments made in a recent agreement, charges the Canadian miner denied after the market’s close on Thursday. Shares of Barrick ended 3.16% lower on Friday.
Energy was a bright spot, rising 1.39%, as oil futures settled 2.27% higher at $71.78 a barrel.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Marguerita Choy)
