Updates at market close
TSX ends down 0.5% at 25,504.33
Technology sector falls 1.2%
Real estate loses 0.9%
Nine of 10 major sectors decline
By Fergal Smith
Dec 10 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell for a second straight day on Tuesday as technology and real estate shares lost ground, but the decline was restrained ahead of an expected supersized interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended down 121.09 points, or 0.5%, at 25,504.33, extending its pullback from a record closing high on Friday.
Wall Street's main indexes also ended lower as investors awaited a U.S. inflation report on Wednesday.
The TSX has added 21.7% since the start of 2024, including 16.6% since mid-year.
"We've had a great run, particularly in the TSX in the last, call it, six months," said Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at BMO Asset Management. "This is people looking at markets, taking some gains."
The Bank of Canada will slash interest rates by a half percentage point at a second consecutive meeting on Wednesday, according to a majority of economists polled by Reuters, many of whom changed their view on news of a sharp rise in unemployment.
"I think it's important for them to continue to be aggressive on rate cuts to help fuel the Canadian economy," Adatia said. "It would be a sign that consumers are going to spend, helping drive earnings for corporations."
The consumer discretionary sector added 0.3%, the only one of 10 major sectors to notch gains.
The technology sector fell 1.2%, with e-commerce company Shopify SHOP.TO down 1.6%. Real estate lost 0.9%, its fourth straight day of declines.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Will Dunham)
((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))
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