Canada's commodity-heavy main stock index opened slightly higher on Monday, as a rise in material stocks countered a fall in energy shares, ahead of a central bank meeting this week.
The TSX Composite Index gained a mere 10.53 points to open a short week at 21,884.88.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.21 cents to 79.29 cents U.S.
Shopify announced a 10-for-1 stock split of the company's class A and class B shares, joining a growing list of companies that have split their shares to make them more attractive for investors. Shopify shares dipped 98 cents to $757.00.
RBC raised the rating on Cameco Corp. to outperform from sector perform. Cameco shares climbed 67 cents, or 1.8%, to $38.79.
CIBC cut the rating on Canadian Western Bank to neutral from outperform. Western Bank shares faded 31 cents to $34.56.
CIBC raised the rating on National Bank to outperformer from neutral. National shares grabbed 37 cents to $94.76.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.21 points to 891.42.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were falling in the first hour, with health-care off 1.7%, energy losing 1.5%, and information technology, faltering 0.4%.
The five gainers were led by gold, brighter 1.8%, materials stronger by 0.8%, and communications clicking higher 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Monday as interest rates continued to climb on concerns over tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve that could slow economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 35.69 points to kick off Monday at 34,685.43.
The S&P 500 lost 31.85 points to 4,456.43
The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 149.71 points, or 1.1%, to 13,561.28.
Tech stocks led losses as higher interest rates spurred investors to drop more risky assets. Microsoft declined 2.6%. Semiconductor stocks like Nvidia docked 4.2%, and Advanced Micro Devices fell 3.4%.
Airline stocks as a group gained after markets opened. Delta Air Lines spiked 4%. Alaska Air Group was up 2.7%, American Airlines Group jumped 2.8%, Southwest Airlines ticked upward 2.6% and United Airlines Holdings jumped 2.6%.
Twitter’s stock was on the move after CEO Parag Agrawal revealed that Elon Musk abandoned his plan to join the company’s board. Shares for the social media company dropped more than 8% in the pre-market, but had recovered to trade 1.7% higher by the open.
The fight against inflation is likely to be a market driver this week. Investors will get a look at fresh data, with the consumer price index for March due out on Tuesday and the producer price index following on Wednesday.
Treasury prices fell as yields increased to 2.76%, from Friday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices doffed $4.48 to $93.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $16.10 to $1,961 U.S. an ounce.
