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TSX off 1% in broader declines

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Healthcare, tech stocks at the bottom

(Updates after markets open)

By Ragini Mathur

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index dropped

more than 1% on Monday in broader market declines as investors

opted to secure some profits and take stock of market conditions

heading into the new year.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 258.75

points, or 1.04%, at 24,537.65. It has advanced 16.9% this year

and is set to record its best since 2021.

Ten of the 11 sectors on the index were in the red, with

healthcare and technology at the bottom,

having declined more than 2% each.

The energy sector, up 0.4%, was the only outlier

as oil prices edged higher ahead of more economic data from

China and the United States.

Wall Street's main indexes also lost ground on Monday,

slipping more than 1% each.

"I think the main thing is, where people have significant

gains, they want to lock them in and then maybe reassess market

conditions as we enter into the new year," said Michael Sprung,

president at Sprung Investment Management.

"Particularly, technology stocks are being hit as interest

rates threatened to either bounce up or remain at relatively

higher levels than what people were expecting."

Trading volumes are expected to be thin in the

holiday-shortened week, with markets closed on Wednesday for the

New Year.

Canadian equities are set for their worst month since May

2023, partly due to the U.S. Federal Reserve's forecast of fewer

rate cuts next year and domestic political uncertainty.

Market participants are also bracing for policy changes in

the United States with Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Trump has pledged a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada,

in a blow to the country's crude exports to the United States.

Investors will now focus on monthly employment data from

Canada and the United States for clues on the monetary policy

path of the two countries' central banks.