May 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday as technology stocks and gold miners came under selling pressure while investors watched developments around the Middle East conflict and U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite index (.GSPTSE), dipped 0.5% to 34,128.67 points at 11:03 a.m. ET. It closed at a three-week high on Tuesday.
Technology stocks (.SPTTTK), dropped 2% to touch a one-month low. Shares of microchip maker Celestica (CLS.TO), content and technology company Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), and software firm OpenText (OTEX.TO), fell 2.6% to 4.7% each.
The index has fared the worst on TSX this year, declining nearly 20%.
The Canadian technology sector is seen more a victim of artificial intelligence than a beneficiary given a high concentration of software companies, Brian Madden, CIO at First Avenue Investment Counsel said.
"It was down a lot in the first quarter and hasn't really recovered quite as smartly as the U.S. tech sector has."
The broader Canadian equities markets traded just below their March 2 record high, helped by an upbeat earnings season largely driven by energy companies and miners.
Oil prices , were largely unchanged but held above $100 a barrel as investors monitored a fragile Middle East ceasefire and awaited a high-stakes summit in Beijing between Trump and China's Xi Jinping.
Energy stocks were steady.
Gold miners (.SPTTGD), however, fell 1.4% as prices of the precious metal dropped after hotter-than-expected U.S. producer prices data reinforced expectations of a tighter monetary policy.
Equinox Gold (EQX.TO), shares fell 3.6% after the company said it would acquire Orla Mining (OLA.TO), in an all-stock deal to create a North American gold producer worth about $18.5 billion. Orla shares dipped 0.7%.
Shares of Boyd Group (BYD.TO), which runs autobody and auto glass repair facilities across North America, slumped 12% after the company missed analysts' expectations for first-quarter sales.
Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das
