*
TSX ends down 239.26 points, or 1.2%, at 20,275.54
*
Energy falls nearly 2%; oil settles down 3.6%
*
Materials sector ends 2.9% lower
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BlackBerry slumps 11.7%
(Adds investor quotes and details throughout, updates prices)
By Fergal Smith
March 7 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell more
than 1% on Tuesday, including sharp declines for resource shares
and the shares of BlackBerry Ltd, as hawkish remarks by Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell strained investor sentiment.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 239.26 points, or 1.2%, at 20,275.54, its
lowest closing level since last Wednesday
U.S. stock indexes also fell after Powell told Congress the
central bank will likely need to raise interest rates more than
expected as it seeks to rein in stubbornly high inflation.
"We are seeing a pullback in risk assets as people start to
discount the Fed keeping rates higher for longer," said Joseph
Abramson, co-chief investment officer at Northland Wealth
Management.
Still, inflation and interest rate hikes could undershoot
expectations and China's economy is accelerating, helped by
liquidity-boosting measures, which should be supportive of
commodities, Abramson said, adding: "I think this weakness (in
stocks) is something to buy, particularly the TSX."
The TSX has a 30% weighting in commodity-linked shares.
The energy sector fell nearly 2% on Tuesday as oil settled
3.6% lower at $77.58 a barrel, while materials, which includes
precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, was
down 2.9%.
Financials lost 1.2% and technology ended 1.1% lower.
The latter was pressured by a decline of 11.7% for the
shares of BlackBerry Ltd after the software firm
announced a lower-than-expected annual sales estimate.
Thomson Reuters Corp shares were a bright spot,
rising 1.2%. An investor consortium including it and Blackstone is selling 1.7 billion pounds ($2.01 billion) worth of
shares in the London Stock Exchange Group to trim its
joint stake.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Additional reporting by Johann M
Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Ken Ferris)
