Canada's main stock index edged higher Tuesday afternoon led by gains in marijuana stocks while the materials group followed the price of gold lower.
Shares of Canopy Growth Corporation were advancing, up 2.78 percent to 40.97. Earlier in the session WEED shares hit a fresh 52 week high of $44.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up 13.52 points Tuesday afternoon to 16,331.17.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.034 cents to 80.21 cents U.S.
In corporate news -- Blackstone Property Partners is buying Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust in an all-cash deal valued at about C$2.48 billion, the Canadian REIT said on Tuesday. Blackstone’s offer of C$8.10 per Pure Industrial’s unit represents a premium of 20.5 percent to its closing price on Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s No. 2 bank, on Tuesday said it bought Layer 6 Inc, an artificial intelligence (AI) company for an undisclosed sum.
Canadian housing starts fell in December, as expected. A sharp decline in multiple unit urban starts outweighed a rise in single-detached starts, data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed on Tuesday. December’s decline bucked a strong year for homebuilding, with total urban starts up 6.2 percent from 2016. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts declined to 216,980 in December from November’s downwardly revised 251,675. Economists had expected a decline to a 212,500 annual rate.
Global oil markets extended gains ahead of what could prove to be critical inventory data from the United States later this week. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% on Tuesday to $62.61 a barrel.
Gold prices on Tuesday retreated for a second day in a row. February gold fell $7.20, or 0.5%, to $1,313.20 an ounce.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 0.04 points to 921.08 in afternoon action Tuesday.
Eight of the TSX subgroups traded positive Tuesday afternoon -- with health-care issues surging 1.37%, energy stocks ahead by 1.13% and real estate issues up 0.96%.
On the downside -- material stocks were off 0.97%, while gold issues backtracked 0.49% and base metal stocks shed 0.38%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading in record territory Tuesday afternoon, with shares of Boeing Co. propping up the index. Shares of Boeing were up $7.45, or 2.4%, equating to a more than 50-point gain for the Dow.
The Dow was up 0.5% at 25,400 while the S&P 500 index gained 0.3% at 2,765 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was showing a gain of 0.2% at 7,171.
Target Corp. shares rose 3.1% after the retailer joined a handful of its peers that have reported positive comparable-store sales growth in the holiday period between November and December, driven by strong traffic and e-commerce sales. The big box chain reported on Tuesday, Jan. 9, comp growth of 3.4% and an expected 25% growth in digital sales.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s stock traded 0.4% higher after the Chinese e-commerce giant’s founder, Jack Ma, promised to consider listing in Hong Kong.
Shares in Intel Corp. traded flat after CEO Brian Krzanich delivered a speech at CES late Monday. He detailed advances in virtual reality and other technologies, while also addressing the dark cloud hanging over chip makers.
The yield for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed to its highest level in 10 months on Tuesday. The 10-year note yield rose 4 basis points to 2.520%, its highest since March 17.
