(Updates at market close)

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TSX ends down 0.8% at 30,269.98

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Posts lowest closing level since last Thursday

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Materials sector loses 2.8% as gold pulls back

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Consumer discretionary ends 1.2% lower

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index

fell to a one-week low on Thursday as a pullback in the price of

gold weighed on metal mining stocks and ahead of domestic jobs

data that could offer clues on prospects for additional interest

rate cuts by the Bank of Canada.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 232.01

points, or 0.8%, at 30,269.98, its lowest closing level since

last Thursday and its biggest decline since August 1.

Still, the index has advanced 22.4% since the start of the

year and posted a record closing high as recently as Monday.

Wall Street also ended lower as the market consolidated some

recent gains ahead of third-quarter earnings season.

The Toronto market's materials sector, which includes

fertilizer companies and metal mining shares, lost 2.8% as gold

dipped below the $4,000/oz milestone breached for the

first time in the previous session.

"Keep in mind, the materials sector has driven a good chunk

of the outperformance of the TSX this year," said Devin

Cattelan, a portfolio manager at Verecan Capital Management.

"So it is temporary ... Our philosophy is you can't ever

really ever take too much away from a couple of days of market

movements."

Industrials fell 1.1% and consumer discretionary

was down 1.2%. Shares of auto parts manufacturer

Magna International ( MGA ) declined 3.1%.

Among the sectors that gained ground was technology

. It rose 0.8%, adding to the previous session's strong

gains.

Canada's employment report for September, due on Friday, is

expected to show the economy adding 5,000 jobs and the

unemployment rate increasing to 7.2%.

Investors are leaning toward an interest rate cut at the BoC's

next policy announcement on October 29, after the central bank

eased rates last month for the first time since March to support

the economy. 0#CADIRPR