Canadian Stocks Pull Back Off Early Highs But Remain Positive
(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session on Friday, Canadian stocks gave back ground some ground but still ended the day mostly higher.
Signs of easing trade war tensions and a better job market report pushed stocks higher early in the session on Friday.
The Canadian benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index opened higher and quickly attained a new intra-day high of 26,519.61 but unable to hang on, dipped to settle at 26,429.13, up by 86.84 (or 0.33%).
For the week, the TSX has managed to gain around 1%.
According to data released by Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate in Canada rose to 7.0% in May from 6.9% in April. However, net employment rose by 8,800 jobs. Average hourly earnings for permanent employees rose by 3.5%.
Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said that Canadian PM Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump were in direct contact. This news gave rise to optimism for improvement in bilateral trade policies.
On the external front, Trump's flagging of a "very good call" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has rekindled the hopes that a better trade deal between the two major economies could materialize soon. Financials, Healthcare, Energy and IT sectors were the major gainers in today's trade, gaining 0.58%, 0.74%, 1.36%, and 1.87% respectively.
Among the individual stocks, Shopify Inc., gained around 6.31%. Energy heavyweights Baytex Energy, Cenvous Energy, and Canadian Natural gained 4.27%, 2.66%, and 2.10% respectively.
Among the losers, Materials sector took a beating losing around 1.74% while Utilities, Communication Services, and Consumer Staples lost between 0.35%, 0.42%, and 0.85% respectively.
Among the individual stocks, Algoma Steel and Seabridge Gold lost 10.76% and 5.18% respectively.
