(Adds analyst comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 69.12 points, or 0.48 percent, at 14,307.12
* Half of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, July 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell
on Wednesday, weighed down by falls in the shares of major
banks, energy companies and miners as weakness in commodity
markets tainted investor sentiment.
A rise in U.S. oil inventories pushed U.S crude CLc1 to a
settlement below $50 a barrel for the first time since April.
Brent also fell. O/R
Gold prices hit a five-year low, and copper and iron ore
also struggled due to shrinking Chinese demand.
GOL/ MET/L IRONORE/
"The pressure from commodity-related assets is probably
going to stay with us for a little longer," said Sid Mokhtari,
director of institutional equity research at CIBC World Markets.
"There's no real catalyst for them to get a lift and that's why
we expect this doldrums or this stagnation to persist."
Those price drops pulled the Toronto index's energy sector
down 1.1 percent and the mining sub-sector down 2.3 percent.
Pipeline company Enbridge Inc ENB.TO was the index's most
influential loser, down 3.3 percent to C$55.74. Oil producer
Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO was not far behind,
declining 2.2 percent to C$31.06.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE finished down 69.12 points, or 0.48 percent, at
14,307.12.
CIBC's Mokhtari said he expected the index to touch lows
from October and December last year, putting it in a range
between 13,600 and 13,800, before buyers will re-emerge.
"Until then, this thing is going to be an orderly decline, a
slow grind lower," he said.
Half of the index's 10 main groups were in negative
territory, while decliners outnumbered advancing issues by 173
to 73, for a 2.37-to-1 ratio on the downside.
Five stocks posted new 52-week highs while 43 hit new lows.
"It's the summer doldrums, so there are few bulls around,"
said John Ing, president of Maison Placements Canada.
"Technically we're oversold, we're due for at least the odd
dead-cat bounce ... but I suspect this has got to wring itself
out."
The index's materials group, home to mining companies,
traded 0.9 percent lower. First Quantum Minerals FM.TO fell
4.4 percent to C$13.37.
Financials, more than one-third of the index's weight,
slipped 0.4 percent, with Bank of Montreal BMO.TO off 0.7
percent at C$73.67.
Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO fell 5.6 percent to C$1.69. The
struggling Canadian plane and train maker's CSeries jetliner
program has been plagued with years of cost overruns and delays,
while the company has made a long string of management changes
over the past year.
($1=$1.30 Canadian)