Toronto stocks slip as Middle East conflict weighs
Updated at 10:22 a.m. ET/ 1422 GMT
By Nikhil Sharma
Oct 3 (Reuters) -Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday in a broader decline led by mining shares as escalating tensions in the Middle East weighed on the broader market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 84.04 points, or 0.35%, at 23,917.48.
At least 10 sectors nursed losses on the index, led by the materials sector.
The materials sector .GSPTTMT lost nearly 1.5% as it tracked gold prices that fell on fading expectations of a hefty U.S. interest rate cut, while copper prices also retreated. GOL/ MET/L
Canada's consumer discretionary.GSPTTCD and real estate .GSPTTRE sectors werealso among the top losers, falling 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
The energy sector .SPTTEN was the only outlier, up 1.8% as oil prices rose on Thursday over concerns that the escalating MiddleEast conflict could hit crude supply. O/R
Markets watched the developments in the Middle East as the conflictwidens in the region, days after Iran launched ballistic missile strike on Israel.
"The conflict in the Middle East is heating up, and that seems to be adding to some jitters or conservatism from investors," Josh Sheluk, portfolio manager at Verecan Capital Management.
The escalation is countering the benefit Canadian markets get from higher energy prices, added Seljuk.
Investor sentiment was also weighed by data that showed business activity in Canada's services economy hit a six-month low in September as firms shed jobs and new business dropped to a near four-year low.
In the U.S., the weekly jobless claims data for last week rose marginally, while services sector activity jumped to a one-and-a-half-year high in September.
These data provide a picture on the labor market's health and clues for policy adjustment in the respective countries.
Odds for a 25-basis point cut at the U.S. Fed's November policy meeting stand at 62.9%, up from 50.7%a week earlier, the CME Group's Fed Watch Tool.
Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Leroy Leo
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