The markets today

Canada’s main stock index ended the week higher despite closing lower Friday on continuing trade anxieties that also gripped U.S. markets. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 63.19 points at 16,341.34 on the day, but was still up nearly 70 points over the trading week shortened by the Civic holiday.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 90.75 points at 26,287.44. The S&P 500 index was down 19.44 points at 2,918.65, while the Nasdaq composite was off by 80.02 points at 7,959.14.

All three stock markets bounced back during a midweek rally after plunging as much as 3.5 per cent Monday on signs of an acceleration of the trade war between the U.S. and China.

The selloff was sparked by China letting its currency fall to its lowest level in a decade and deciding to stop U.S. crop purchases in response to the Trump administration declaring it a currency manipulator. While the week ended up stronger than could have been foreseen, new signs of trade tensions surfaced Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump said the American government would not do business with Huawei and Trump indicated that he’s not ready to reach a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy. Eight of the 11 major sectors of the TSX closed the day lower, led by materials with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. losing seven per cent along with other big gold producers. The decreases came as the December gold contract was down $1.00 at US$1,508.50 an ounce after hitting a six-year high earlier in the week. The September copper contract was down 1.85 cents at US$2.59 a pound.

Health care fell about one per cent even though CannTrust Holdings Inc. reversed an early share loss to close up more than 40 per cent despite announcing an independent outside auditor had withdrawn its endorsement of the company’s 2018 financial statements. The energy sector was the best performer, led by Crescent Point Energy Corp. and Encana Corp. with crude prices bouncing back from weakness earlier in the week on concerns that a slowing global economy would hurt demand. In addition, Saudi Arabia indicated it could be advancing the initial public offering of its stateowned oil company Aramco to early next year.