Equities in Toronto were pretty much unchanged mid-Monday, with losses in stocks of cannabis producers offsetting a rise in shares of precious metal miners as fears of an escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions spurred demand of gold.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index forged ahead 15.4 points to greet noon Monday at 16,540.83
The Canadian dollar faded 0.04 cents to 75.77 cents U.S. early Monday afternoon.
Canopy Growth fell $1.49, or 2.8%, the most on the TSX, to $51.79, as Cormark Securities cut price target on the cannabis maker's shares.
On the other hand, Aphria, crawled out of the red by noon and gained 12 cents, or 1.3%, to $9.14.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Centerra Gold, which jumped 19 cents, or 2.1%, to $9.28, and Yamana Gold Inc, which rose nine cents, or 2.8%, to $3.31.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 1.3 points at 591.27
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups had faded into the red by noon hour, as health-care ailed 1%, energy was 0.5% less energetic, and consumer discretionaries surrendered 0.4%.
The four gainers were led by gold, shining 1.9% brighter, materials, up 1.7%, and financials, ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly on Monday as investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s upcoming G-20 summit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average took on 42.24 points to pause for lunch at 26,761.37, buoyed by United Technologies.
The S&P 500 stayed afloat 1.09 points to 2,951.55, as the financials and consumer staples sectors outperformed
The NASDAQ Composite fell back 1.95 points to 8,029.76
The major indexes came into Monday’s session up more than 7% each in June. Those gains erased a massive selloff in May, which was fueled by China and the U.S. hiking tariffs on each other’s products.
Dow member United Technologies rose 1% after an analyst at Cowen upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. Deere shares, meanwhile, climbed 0.7% after being upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
In corporate news, Caesars Entertainment shares surged 14% after the casino operator agreed to be bought out by Eldorado Resorts for more than $17 billion, including debt.
Trump and Xi are expected to discuss the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China at the summit, which is set to start Friday. Investors are hopeful the two leaders will get closer to a deal that will end the conflict.
China and the U.S. have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars worth of their goods over the past year. Last month, the two countries hiked tariffs targeting some goods.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, thus lowering yields to 2.02% from Friday’s 2.06%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices removed 33 cents to $57.10 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $16.80 to $1,416.90 U.S. an ounce.
