Stocks in Toronto displayed very little movement Monday, either up or down, ahead of inflation figures due for Tuesday.
The TSX Composite slid 11.97 points to face the closing bell Monday at 21,847.87.
The Canadian dollar was eked up 0.01 cents to 73.87 cents U.S.
Communications provided the biggest weight on the market, with Quebecor sinking 46 cents, or 1.5%, to $30.78, while Rogers dipped 56 cents, or 1%, to $57.09.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Aritzia surrendered 93 cents, or 2.5%, to $36.03, while Canada Goose Holdings siphoned off 30 cents, or 1.8%, to $16.76.
In the utilities sector, Innergex Renewable gave back 28 cents, or 3.4%, to $8.07, while Northland Power lost 66 cents, or 2.9%, to $21.94.
Health-care issues tried to balance things out, with Tilray soaring 25 cents, or 10.6%, to $2.60, while Chartwell Retirement Residences hiked 21 cents, or 1.7%, to $12.36.
In the real-estate sector, units of H&R REIT grabbed 20 cents, or 2.3%, to $8.90, while Primaris REIT units gathered 30 cents, or 2.3%, to $13.59.
Energy stocks also prospered, with Africa Oil picking up nine cents, or 4.3%, to $2.18, while Vermilion Energy captured 77 cents, or 5%, to $16.06.
In matters economic, Statistics Canada said its Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.7% on a monthly basis in February and fell 1.7% relative to February 2023. The Raw Materials Price Index increased 2.1% month over month in February 2024 and decreased 4.7% year over year.
Moreover, the Canadian Real Estate Association declared Monday Canadian home prices as measured by the seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) were flat on a month-over-month basis in February, ending a streak of five declines that began last fall.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 1.58 points to 549.32.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red by the end, with communications down 0.9%, consumer discretionary off 0.8%, and utilities 0.7% in the minus category.
The five gainers were led by health-care, galloping 3.7%, while real-estate and energy each claimed 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose Monday as Wall Street looked to key artificial intelligence conference and awaited new monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off their highs of the day, but still surged 74.28 points to close Monday to 38,790.05.
The S&P 500 index captured 32.33 points to 5,149.42.
The NASDAQ popped 130.27 points to 16,103.45.
Nvidia shares gained 0.7% on the first day of the company’s GTC Conference — where the chipmaker is expected to showcase its latest inroads in artificial intelligence. Analysts hiked up their price targets as the conference began, with Truist’s William Stein predicting a 34% upside. Shares had earlier climbed as high as 4% on Monday morning.
Shares of Alphabet ended 5% higher after Bloomberg News reported that Apple was in talks with Google to include the company’s Gemini AI in iPhones.
These moves come after two weeks of tech-led losses for both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has ended the past three weeks with losses.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 4.33% from Friday’s 4.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gathered $1.82 to $82.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $2.10 to $2,163.60.
