(Adds analyst's comment, market developments)
* TSX down 26.26 points, or 0.18 percent, to 14,225.27
* Seven of the TSX's 10 main groups fell
By Solarina Ho
TORONTO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index
dropped on Tuesday with most of its sectors under pressure as
market sentiment around the world took a hit from a 6 percent
plunge in Chinese shares, which helped push commodity prices to
multiyear lows.
China's currency also weakened against the greenback,
sparking fears that a deeper devaluation of the yuan may lie
ahead. MKTS/GLOB
"Usually the last couple of weeks of August are pretty
quiet. This year, there's a lot of going on," said Bryden Teich,
associate portfolio manager at Avenue Investment Management.
"The continuation of a selloff for all commodities is
something that's also lingered on. It's a period of pain for a
lot of the commodity industries and producers."
Energy shares on the Toronto market have been hit
particularly hard this year with oil prices dropping to near
6-1/2 year lows. Teich said there is still too much crude supply
globally and that it is impossible to predict when oil prices
will bottom.
At 11:22 a.m. EDT (1522 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 26.26 points, or 0.18
percent, at 14,225.27.
Of the index's 10 main groups, seven were in negative
territory. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 142 to 99,
for a 1.43-to-1 ratio on the downside. The index was posting two
new 52-week highs and 19 new lows.
The most influential decliners on the index included
pipeline operator Enbridge Inc ENB.TO , which fell 1.5 percent
to C$55.05, and Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO , which sank 3.4
percent to C$9.95. First Quantum Minerals Ltd FM.TO plunged
6.4 percent to C$7.93.
Overall, energy stocks retreated 0.1 percent, while the
materials sector, home to mining names, retreated 1.1 percent.
Investors were keeping an eye on the impact of a strong
greenback on corporate profits and the U.S. economy. They were
also waiting to see if the Federal Reserve's latest minutes, to
be released on Wednesday, will provide clues on when the central
bank might start raising interest rates, a move that some see
coming as early as September.
"It's definitely come to the point where they need to at
least raise rates away from crisis-level interest rates," Teich
said. "It signals confidence in the economy."
In corporate news, Brookfield Asset Management BAMa.TO
said on Monday it is buying Australian port and rail freight
firm Asciano AIO.AX for $6.6 billion to form a global
logistics company. Brookfield shares were off 0.5 percent at
C$44.92. The overall financials sector was off 0.1 percent.
($1=$1.31 Canadian)