TSX dips slightly as global issues trouble investors

TORONTO — The Toronto Stock Exchange’s main index slipped slightly lower Monday, while markets south of the border inched forward after seeing some losses earlier in the day.

The S&P/TSX composite index shed 13 points to 16026.26.

The indice’s performance is tied to geopolitical tensions, said Kash Pashootan, CEO and chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel.

Ongoing trouble between the U.S. and North Korea, as well as other global political issues, have led to concerns about an oil-supply disruption, he said, driving the commodity price higher and creating a resource-rooted rally for the exchange.

However, the price of oil didn’t move much Monday — with the December crude contract gaining two cents to $56.76 US per barrel — leaving the TSX relatively flat as well, Pashootan said.

On Wall Street, indices continued to question whether U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver on promised reforms, such as a corporate tax cut, Pashootan said, and indices dipped into the red.

“But there’s no question that the underlying enthusiasm and appetite for buying equities continues to remain strong,” he said, adding that’s what lifted indices before markets closed.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 17.49 points to 23439.70, the S&P 500 index rose 2.54 points to 2584.84 and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 6.66 points to 6757.60.

Pashootan expects U.S. markets to show volatility over the next couple of quarters, moving higher when optimism about Trump’s reform grows and retreating at any sign of challenges in the president’s way.

Elsewhere in commodities, the December gold contract rose $4.70 US to $1,278.90 an ounce and the December copper contract advanced roughly four cents to about $3.12 US a pound. The December natural gas contract fell about five cents to roughly $3.17 per mmBTU.

The Bank of Canada, which publishes the daily average exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, was closed for the Remembrance Day holiday.