(Updates at market close)
* TSX ends down 0.5%, at 34,653.87
* Snaps daily winning streak
* Technology falls 1.6%, financials lose 0.6%
* Canada’s major banks seen reporting higher profits
By Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Fergal Smith
May 26 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index gave back some recent gains on Tuesday as investors grew more cautious about prospects for an early deal to end the Iran war, with technology and financial stocks losing ground.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 177.02 points, or 0.5%, at 34,653.87, after posting four straight days of gains including a record closing high on Monday.
* Iran said the United States had violated a ceasefire after the U.S. conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiating a deal to halt the conflict could “take a few days”.
* “There’s a sense of political exhaustion setting in,” said Shiraz Ahmed, founder at Sartorial Wealth. “But Canadian investors are trying to continue with their long-term growth plans like most other environments we’ve seen in the past.”
* The technology sector fell 1.6%, with shares of Constellation Software down 3.2%.
* Financials, the most heavily weighted sector by far, ended 0.6% lower.
* Canada’s largest banks are due to begin reporting quarterly results on Wednesday. Their profits are expected to have increased despite trade tensions, the Iran war and broader economic uncertainty, but now face tougher tests as more consumers struggle to pay debts and a subdued housing market weighs on their core domestic business.
* Consumer staples fell 1.8% and the materials group, which includes metal mining shares, was down 0.9%.
* The price of gold fell 1.4%, while oil settled 2.8% lower at $93.89 a barrel after clawing back some earlier declines.
* Energy added 0.3%, recouping some of Monday’s sharp losses.
* Canada will sign a large-scale LNG agreement with Germany’s SEFE for liquefied natural gas from the Ksi Lisims planned export facility on the coast of British Columbia, according to an industry source. (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara and Will Dunham)
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