TSX posts longest daily losing streak this year as tech shares slideAI Quick Read* TSX ends down 0.7% at 33,584.34
* Tech stocks fall, with Celestica down 14.5%
* Materials group loses 3.8% as gold falls
* Energy adds 2% as oil settles 3.7% higher (Updates at market close, adds file photos)
By Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Fergal Smith
April 28 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Tuesday for a fourth straight day as declines for technology and metal mining shares offset gains for energy.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 233.85 points, or 0.7%, at 33,584.34, marking its lowest closing level since April 19. It was the fourth straight day of declines for the index, which is the longest daily losing streak since December.
U.S. stocks also fell after a report that said OpenAI had missed its internal revenue target raised fresh concerns about the AI spending spree.
"The market has put the war in the Middle East on the back burner, and a lot of what we’re seeing is really on the back of technology and earnings," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.
Shares of electronic equipment firm Celestica Inc dropped 14.5% after the company reported quarterly results, contributing to a 4.3% decline for the technology sector . The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, was down 3.8% as the price of gold fell to a near four-week low. Barrick Mining named Wessel Hamman as chief financial officer of the new company that will hold its North American assets in the run-up to its U.S IPO. Shares of Barrick were down 3.4%. Energy added 2% as the price of oil settled 3.7% higher at $99.93 a barrel. Stalled efforts to end the Iran war kept the Strait of Hormuz largely closed and constrained Middle East supplies. Economists have said that the oil price shock from the war is unlikely to have a lasting impact on inflation, which should allow the Bank of Canada to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.25% on Wednesday when the central bank is also due to update its economic forecasts.
Canada's housing market slump, the longest in recent decades, is straining household spending even as a record high domestic stock market generates hundreds of billions of dollars of increased wealth. (Reporting by Fergal Smith and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Nick Zieminski)