TSX Records New All-time Closing High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index hit fresh record high on Monday as optimism about U.S.-China trade deal outweighed geopolitical tensions and prompted investors to pick up stocks.

The start was weak, but the market recovered gradually, and after emerging into positive territory in late morning trades, kept edging higher and higher as the session progressed.

Gains in healthcare, information technology and industrial sections lifted the market. Shares from materials and energy sections declined, tracking lower gold and oil prices.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which hit a new high at 17,301.76, ended the session with a gain of 58.93 points, or 0.34%, at 17,293.42, a new closing high.

The Capped Healthcare Index ended up 5.63%. Hexo Corp (HEXO.TO) soared nearly 14%, Canopy Growth Corporation (WEED.TO) gained 12.35%, Cronos Group (CRON.TO) climbed 10.4% and Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO) ended stronger by about 9.75%. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) ended 3.3% up, while Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Extendicare (EXE.TO), Sienna Senior Living (SIA.TO) and Knight Therapeutics (GUD.TO) gained 1 to 1.6%.

In the information technology space, Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) gained 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively. Lightspeed Pos Inc. (LSPD.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) ended higher by 1.3 to 2%.

Among industrials, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP.TO) gained more than 7.5%, Westshore Terminals Investment (WTE.TO) ended 4.7% up and Cargojet Inc. (CJT.TO) gained 3.3%. Air Canada (AC.TO), Stantec Inc. (STN.TO), Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) and Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) ended higher by 1.3 to 2.4%.

Energy stocks Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) declined 4.8% and 2.2%, respectively, on strong volumes.

Torex Gold Reserves (TXG.TO), Cott Corporation (BCB.TO), Detour Gold Corporation (DGC.TO), SSR Mining (SSRM.TO), Kirkland Lake Gold (KL.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) also declined sharply.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 climbed to new record closing highs, as stocks rose amid continued optimism about impact of the phase one U.S.-China trade deal due to be signed later this week.

The Down ended up 0.3%, the Nasdaq gained 1% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.7%.

The major European markets ended mostly weak and markets across the Asia-Pacific region ended mixed.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.96, or about 1.6%, at $58.08 a barrel, the lowest price since early December.

Gold futures for February ended down $9.50, or about 0.6%, at $1,550.60, the lowest settlement in about a week.

Silver futures for March ended down $0.109 at $17.996 an ounce, while Copper futures for March ended up $0.0475 at $2.8610 per pound.