Equities in Canada’s largest centre fought doggedly upward at the open of trade Tuesday, as some investors took a buzz from tidings that the U.S. and China would try again in the next two week to smooth over trade tensions between them.
The S&P/TSX gained 13.2 points to begin trading Tuesday at 16,880.40
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.02 cents at 75.44 cents U.S.
BlackBerry reported a loss for the second quarter, compared to a profit a year earlier, as the company spent heavily to integrate recently acquired Cylance into its suite of products.
The company once known as Research in Motion started Tuesday’s session down $1.58, or 15.9%, to $8.35.
International insurers are vying to buy the Singapore and Vietnam businesses of Britain's Aviva in a deal likely to be worth up to $2.5 billion. Sun Life Financial and Manulife Financial Corp are also among roughly half a dozen suitors for the businesses.
Sun shares took on 43 cents to $59.57, while Manulife gained eight cents to $24.50.
Macquarie raised the rating on First Quantum Minerals to neutral. First Quantum shares advanced a nickel to $11.08.
Eight Capital raised the target price on Fission Uranium to $2.30 from $2.00. Fission dissolved half a cent, or 1.3%, to 38 cents.
Scotiabank raised the target price on Metro Inc. to $63.00 from $57.50. Metro shares were better by 47 cents to $58.02.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange deleted 1.51 points to 588.47
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups gained in the early going, with consumer staples and industrials each advancing 0.9%, while consumer discretionary stocks acquired 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, down 1.4%, while materials and health-care each slid 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded higher on Tuesday as hope around U.S.-China trade talks increased.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 60.42 points to 27,010.41, led by Apple.
The S&P 500 recovered 9.6 points to 3,001.38
The NASDAQ Composite gained 20.99 points to 8,119.68
Apple, which has large exposure to the Chinese market, rose 1.1%. Chipmaker Nvidia advanced 0.8%. However, those gains were muted after several Wall Street analysts raised concern about Netflix’s upcoming results, sending the stock down about 1%.
On the data front, consumer confidence for September slipped to 125.1 from 135.1 in August. Economists expected a dip to 133.5.
News reports circulated Tuesday that China granted new waivers to several companies exempting them from tariffs on at least two million tons of U.S. soybeans. The report added some companies have already bought about 1.2 million tons of soybeans.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also confirmed trade talks between the world’s two largest economies would resume next month. In media interviews, Mnuchin said negotiators from the U.S. and China had made some progress in last week’s deputy-level meetings.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 1.67% from Monday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices sank 65 cents to $57.99 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted $6.60 to $1,524.90 U.S. an ounce.
