The markets today
TORONTO (CP) — The Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index moved ahead Monday, mostly on the back of rising oil and gold prices, but also thanks to gains in the health-care sector where a cannabis company’s shares surged more than 20 per cent. The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 63.63 points to 16,371.81. Shares of licensed marijuana producer Aphria Inc. gained 20.42 per cent or $3.68 to close at $21.70. Aphria announced before markets opened an agreement to acquire Broken Coast Cannabis Inc. in a deal it valued at $230 million in stock and cash. However, broader trends in the price of commodities were more influential for the index today, said Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
“I think the guide for the TSX today is really the little bit of a lift we’re seeing in oil price and gold prices,” he said.
While the health-care sector led the TSX, shares in the gold sector gained an average of 1.2 per cent and those in the energy sector rose 0.46 per cent.
Shortly after 4 p.m. ET, the February crude contract was up 51 cents to US$64.81 per barrel and the February gold contract was ahead by US$5.60 to US$1,340.50 an ounce.
In commodity markets, the Canadian dollar closed at an average trading value of 80.50 cents US, up 0.53 of a U.S. cent.
It’s likely the loonie will dip back below 80 cents US at some point in 2018, Fehr said, as the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to remain on a steady path of hiking rates, which could outpace the Bank of Canada, putting downward pressure on the loonie.
U.S. markets are closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.