Credit: REUTERS/Mark BlinchBy Maiya Keidan
TORONTO, March 17 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Friday, dragged down by losses in financial and energy stocks as fears of a global banking meltdown continued to plague investors.
At provisional close, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 152.83, or 0.77%, at 19,387.72, its second straight week of losses.
"People are worried about recession," said Sean Oye, portfolio manager at Nicola Wealth Management. "In terms of recession, commodities and materials tend to sell off, and Canada's exposed both to oil, commodities as well as heavily exposed to financials."
Fears of a banking crisis failed to subside even after several major U.S. banks offered a $30 billion lifeline for beleaguered First Republic Bank FRC.N, while Credit Suisse also received an emergency liquidity line from the Swiss central bank.
Technology stocks SPTTTK also fell 0.2% on.
Pot stocks, such as Canopy Growth Corp WEED.TO and Cronos Group CRON.TO, fell in a broader sell-off, dragging the healthcare index .GSPTTHC down 1.3%.
Bucking the trend, the utilities .GSPTTUT and materials sector .GSPTTMT, which includes precious and base metal miners and fertilizer companies, gained 0.2% and 3.3% respectively.
(Reporting by Maiya Keidan Editing by Marguerita Choy)
((Maiya.Keidan@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 542 1594; Reuters Messaging: maiya.keidan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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