Aug 6 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index hit over a month low on Tuesday with mining and healthcare stocks leading broader declines as investors caught up to Monday's global stocks rout after a Canadian market holiday.
At 9:50 a.m. ET (13:50 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab was down 351.32 points, or 1.58%, at 21,876.31, after logging its worst day since February on Friday.
Investors in Canada caught up with a global stocks rout from Monday, where markets saw a heavy sell-off following fears of recession in the United States.
"Canadian stocks didn't go down yesterday because the market was closed, now they're catching up. There'll be a big gap down this morning to adjust for that," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
Despite data showing a rebound in U.S. services activity and some positive comments from Federal Reserve policymakers on Monday, uncertainty from the sell-off weighed on the sentiment.
Furthermore, the yield on the two-year Canadian government bond inched up after six sessions of decline, while the one on the five-year snapped a nine-session losing streak.
The materials sector (.GSPTTMT), that houses Canadian miners and fertilizer companies was trading at its lowest in over a month with a 3.4% fall. It was pulled down by miners tracking steep losses in copper prices.
Healthcare shares (.GSPTTHC), was also among the top losers with a 3.5% decline, with all sectoral indexes trading in the red except communication services (.GSPTTTS), that gained 0.1%.
"We have the impact of commodity trading (also) today. It's likely to be a volatile day for Canada," Cieszynski added.
Data-wise, domestic employment figures are due on Friday that will shed more light on the country's labour market.
Attention will also be on a host of Fed policymakers scheduled to speak throughout the month, against the backdrop of recession fears.
Back home, oil producer Suncor Energy (SU.TO), is expected to report its quarterly earnings after the closing bell.
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore
