Canada's main stock index stayed in positive territory on Monday amid renewed hopes that the United States and China would soon resolve their trade dispute, after President Donald Trump said he would delay raising tariffs on Chinese imports.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index hung onto gains of 44.02 points to finish Monday at 16,057.03
The Canadian dollar fell 0.28 cents at 75.82 cents U.S.
Industrials led the parade, as Canadian Pacific Railway chugged ahead $2.61, or nearly 1%, to $276.20. Air Canada gained 35 cents, or 1%, to $33.49.
Enerflex took on 89 cents, or 4.8%, to $19.45. Canadian Natural Resources gained 17 cents to $37.06.
Among financials, Royal Bank added 57 cents to $102.31, while Manulife moved higher by 48 cents, or 2.2%, to $22.79.
Barrick Gold fell 23 cents, or 1.3%, to $16.90, after if offered to buy U.S. rival Newmont Mining for nearly $18 billion in stock, in a hostile takeover that seeks to combine the world's two largest gold producers.
Goldcorp handed back a penny to $14.59.
Among health-care issues, Cronos Group fell $2.21, or 7.7%, to $26.60 the most on the TSX, after Jefferies started coverage of stock with an "underperform" rating.
Aphria was down 59 cents, or 4.4%, to $12.72.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, Magna International dropped 93 cents, or 1.3%, to $70.65.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged forward 0.46 points to 623.73
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups stayed positive till day’s end, as industrials triumphed 0.7%, energy gained 0.6%, and financials climbed 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, down 0.9%, health-care, off 0.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks dipped 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said he would delay placing additional tariffs on Chinese goods. Equities also got a boost from deal-making activity.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its day-long peaks, but still finished up 60.14 points to 26,091.95, led by gains in Caterpillar and DowDuPont.
The S&P 500 nicked higher 3.44 points to 2,796.11, as the materials and tech sectors outperformed.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 26.92 points to 7,554.46
Trump said in a series of tweets the U.S. would not add more tariffs on imports from China at the start of March. He cited "substantial progress" in bilateral talks between the world's two largest economies, including intellectual property protection and technology transfer issues. However, he did not state a new deadline.
Trade bellwethers Caterpillar rose 2%, and Boeing gained 0.7%
Sentiment was also lifted after General Electric announced it will sell its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher for $21.4 billion. News of the deal sent GE shares up more than 6%. Danaher's stock also jumped 8.5%.
Meanwhile, Barrick Gold launched a bid to acquire Newmont Mining for $7 billion in an all-stock deal. If approved, the deal would come after years of stagnant gold prices. The precious metal has been trading between $1,000 and $1,400 per ounce in recent years
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury wilted, raising yields to 2.67% from Friday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.85 to $55.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dulled $3.80 to $1,329.00 U.S. an ounce.
