Canada’s main stock index rose on Monday to a record high, with the technology sector leading broad-based gains as investors cheered a cooling in global trade tensions.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 193.18 points, or 0.8%, at 26,073.13, eclipsing the record closing high it posted last Tuesday.
Volumes were lower than usual as U.S. markets were closed for a public holiday.
U.S. President Donald Trump backed down from threatened 50% duties on European Union shipments starting June 1, giving global markets a lift. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 1% higher. It had lost 0.9% on Friday after Trump unexpectedly called for sharp tariffs on goods from the European Union.
All 10 major sectors on the TSX ended higher, led by technology, which advanced 1.8%.
The industrials sector rose 1%. It was helped by a gain of 20.3% for the shares of ATS Corp after the automation solutions company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Consumer discretionary was up 1.3%, while real estate added 1.1% as bond yields eased. The Canadian 10-year yield dipped 3.2 basis points to 3.319%.
In individual stocks, shares of Ivanhoe Mines tumbled 16.2%. The company said it had suspended its output forecast for this year after seismic activities at its copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo halted underground mining operations.
In currency markets, the Canadian dollar steadied against its U.S. counterpart after posting a seven-month high early in the day on Monday, after data showed speculators growing more vulnerable to a short squeeze in the currency.
The loonie was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3734 per U.S. dollar, or 72.81 U.S. cents by late afternoon. Earlier, it touched its strongest intraday level since October 9 at 1.3687.
Speculators have raised their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar to a six-week high, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of May 20, net short positions had increased to 103,861 contracts from 82,156 in the prior week.
Recent gains for the currency “may put some of these freshly minted CAD shorts under a little pressure soon,” Shaun Osborne and Eric Theoret, strategists at Scotiabank, said in a note.
In economic data Monday, Canadian factory sales fell 2% in April from March, weighed by lower sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector and the motor vehicle industry group, a preliminary estimate showed.
First-quarter gross domestic product data is due on Friday, which could guide expectations for next week’s Bank of Canada interest rate decision. Economists expect growth to slow to an annualized rate of 1.7% from 2.6% in the previous quarter.
Reuters, Globe staff