CANADA STOCKS-TSX tries to snap five-day losing streak

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By Shashwat Chauhan

Sept 27 (Reuters) -

Gains in tech and materials shares on Tuesday helped Canada's main stock recover from a five-day selloff that was triggered by mounting worries about a global economic downturn.

At 09:52 a.m. ET (13:52 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 129.14 points, or 0.7%, at 18,456.18, a day after sinking to its lowest levels in 18 months.

"Things are looking over-sold, so there's potential for a bounce if we can get any turnaround in yields and in the U.S. dollar and the hope is that sentiment seems pretty washed out and people are pretty on edge", said Greg Taylor, Portfolio Manager at Purpose Investments.

Wall Street also rallied sharply in early trading, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average confirmed it has been in a bear market since early January.

The Toronto market's energy sector rose 1.5%, tracking a more than 2% jump in crude prices, while the materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 2% after leading declines in recent sessions.

Those two groups together account for nearly 30% of TSX's weighting.

The rate-sensitive financial sector gained 0.2%, while the healthcare sector, which includes cannabis companies, climbed 1.8%.

The TSX has lost 4.5% so far this month and is headed for a second straight month of decline as worries about the economic impact of central bank tightening overshadowed domestic data showing an easing of inflation pressures.

The Bank of Canada's governor said on Monday that the central bank must hike interest rates to slow spending and give the economy time to catch up. The central bank has lifted rates by 300 basis points in just six months, with traders pricing in a another 50 bps hike next month.

Looking ahead this week, GDP data for the month of July will come in on Thursday.

HIGHLIGHTS

On the TSX, 205 issues were higher, while 29 issues declined for a 7.07-to-1 ratio favoring gainers, with 24.60 million shares traded.

Colliers International Group fell 2.4%, the most on the TSX, after Scotia Bank assumed the coverage on the stock with sector perform rating versus sector outperform.

The TSX posted no new 52-week high and four new lows.

Across all Canadian issues there was one new 52-week high and 50 new lows, with total volume of 42.31 million shares. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Anil D'Silva)