Equities in Canada’s largest market doggedly managed to hang onto gains accumulated during Monday’s trading session, as investors on both sides of the border waited with bated breath for a decision Wednesday from the U.S. Federal Reserve
The S&P/TSX Composite Index acquired 38.14 points to close Monday at 15,544.82
The Canadian dollar gained 0.10 cents at 74.39 cents U.S.
Information technology stocks led the way upward, as BlackBerry climbed 24 cents, or 2.6%, to $9.43, while financial technology whiz DH Corporation spiked $2.12, or 9.2%, to $25.16.
Among financials, TD Bank recovered somewhat after a sharp fall on Friday following media reports which said staff had been put under pressure to meet sales targets.
TD rose 99 cents, or 1.5%, to $66.99, after falling 5.6% on Friday, while rival Scotiabank moved up 73 cents to $79.70.
Also chief among the gainers, the gold sector, with Klondex Mines Ltd. soaring 22 cents, or 3.4%, to $6.65, while HudBay Minerals moved north 19 cents, or 2.1%, to $9.38.
Telecoms had a rough go of it Monday, with BCE Inc. stumbling 82 cents, or 1.4%, to $57.77, while Rogers docked four cents to $56.24.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 5.36 points to 804.55
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups moved higher on the day, with information technology clicking higher 0.9%, financials prospering 0.5%, and gold up 0.4%,
The four laggards were weighed most by telecoms, down 0.4%, with real-estate sliding 0.3%, and health-care fading 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed off session lows Monday as traders anticipated an interest rate hike on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 20.37 points to close at 20,882.61. UnitedHealth had the greatest positive impact, while Chevron contributed the most to declines.
Boeing traded higher. Earlier, shares fell after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to equal weight from overweight.
The S&P 500 fought its way up 0.87 points to 2,373.47, with consumer discretionary leading five sectors higher and consumer staples and health care the greatest decliners.
The NASDAQ added 14.06 points to 5,875.78, helped by gains in NVIDIA, Sirius XM Holdings and Facebook.
In corporate news, Intel announced it will buy Israeli driverless technology firm Mobileye for $15.3 billion U.S. Shares of Intel – colloquially called “Mr. Chips” -- fell 2%, while Mobileye shares leaped 29%.
The Federal Open Market Committee is set to raise rates at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. Traders generally expect the Fed to hike three times this year, after the central bank raised rates in December for the second time in just about a decade.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note faded, raising yields to 2.62% from Friday’s 2.58%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices finished negative six cents to $48.43 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices picked up $2.40 to $1,203.80 U.S. an ounce.
