Canadian stock market rebounds from early losses to hit record high – National

Canada’s main stock index rebounded from early losses to climb yet again while U.S. markets dipped from record highs.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 37.98 points to a record 21,594.52.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 112.24 points at 36,319.98. The S&P 500 index was down 16.45 points at 4,685.25, while the Nasdaq composite was down 95.82 points at 15,886.54.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, says investors were mainly pausing and taking the time to reassess things.

“We’ve just had a big run in markets in the last few months and everybody’s just kind of stopping to catch their breath and look around and see where we’re at,” he said in an interview.

The energy sector slipped despite a 2.7 per cent increase in crude oil prices.

It lost 0.3 per cent as share decreases by oil and gas producers were partially offset by gains for oilfield services and equipment companies.

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The December crude contract was up US$2.22 at US$84.15 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was down 44.8 cents at US$4.98 per mmBTU.

The oil price gains followed the reopening of the U.S. land border to Canadian and international travellers.

Cieszynski said demand for gasoline has likely increased with long lineups of campers as snowbirds head south.

“But that to me is more of a short-term thing. I think generally supporting the oil price has been that OPEC plus last week is continuing to manage supply.”

Consumer staples was the big winner on the day, rising 1.3 per cent as shares of fresh producer supplier Village Farms International Inc. increased 10.8 per cent after posting strong quarterly results.

Materials was up even as gold prices slipped.

The December gold contract was down US$2.80 at US$1,830.80 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 2.6 cents at US$4.37 a pound.

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The Canadian dollar traded for 80.33 cents US, unchanged from Monday.

Health care was one of four sectors that fell on the day. It lost 0.6 per cent as shares of Cronos Group Inc. plunged 14.9 per cent after the cannabis producer said it would have to restate previously released financial numbers to include an impairment charge of at least US$220 million.

U.S. producer prices released Tuesday were slightly better than expectations but remained high.

Inflation numbers coming on Wednesday will follow the overnight release of Chinese consumer prices.

“So we’ll have probably a better idea on where inflation’s at tomorrow, but so far it’s still stable at a very high level,” Cieszynski said.