Canada Stocks: TSX falls more than 1% as Shopify slides
CANADA STOCKS-TSX falls more than 1% as Shopify slides Updates at market close
By Fergal Smith
Sept 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Tuesday, with heavily weighted financials and shares of Shopify among the biggest decliners as investors grew cautious heading into a seasonally weak period for the market.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE ended down 390.75 points, or 1.1%, at 36,123.05, extending the market's choppy pattern since it notched a record closing high of 36,957.63 on August 25.
The U.S. benchmark, the S&P 500, also fell as software makers lost ground on worries that AI could compete with the services they offer.
"This is part of the seasonal weakness," said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at PenderFund Capital Management.
"September is usually a choppy period and I think this year is shaping up to be more the norm, that we're going to get some volatility ahead of the FOMC meeting, with the U.S. midterms and then just the uncertainty with bond yields and such."
U.S. inflation data, due on Friday, could help guide expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week.
An intensifying trade war between the United States and Canada was another potential headwind for the market after Canada's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect after midnight.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to ban Bombardier BBDb.TO jets from the United States faced pushback as Republicans in Kansas, where Bombardier employs around 1,500, vowed to protect those jobs ahead of a key November election.
Bombardier's shares clawed back some of their earlier declines to end 2.5% lower.
Industrials .GSPTTIN were down 1.1%, while financials .SPTTFS lost 1.5% and technology ended 3.1% lower.
Shares of e-commerce company Shopify SHOP.TO fell 7.8% to the lowest closing level since July 29.
Of the 10 major sectors, only the defensive utilities sector .GSPTTUT and energy .SPTTEN ended higher.
Energy added 0.9% as oil prices rose. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 1.7% higher at $93.03 a barrel after Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi energy facilities.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Darshan Kumar and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara and Deepa Babington)
((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))