The Canadian market settled flat on Thursday as investors made cautious moves while assessing the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on imported vehicles effective April 3rd, and the impending announcement of reciprocal tariffs.
Trump also posted on his Truth Social Platform that he will impose even steeper tariffs on the European Union and Canada if they collaborate to harm the U.S. economy.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index settled at 25,161.06, exactly at previous session's closing figure. The index dropped to a low of 25,023.79 in early trades, and despite recovering to 25,205.59 by mid morning, struggled to move higher.
Healthcare, materials and communications shares found good support. Several stocks from consumer staples sector too moved higher. Technology and energy stocks traded weak.
Tilray climbed about 7.5%. Pet Valu Holdings, Iamgold Corp, Seabridge Gold, New Gold, Wesdome Gold Mines, Sandstorm Gold, Alamos Gold, Equinox Gold, Agnico Eagle Mines, SSR Mining, MAG Silver, Endeavour Silver, Aya Gold & Silver and B2Gold Corp gained 3 to 6%.
Pan American Silver Corp, Franco-Nevada Corp, Torex Gold, Kinross Gold, BCE, TerraVest Industries, Fortuna Mining, Cogeco Communications and Boyd Group Services also moved up sharply.
Among the major losers, Magna International, BRP, Bombardier Inc. and Lightspeed Commerce lost 5.5 to 7%.
BlackBerry, Air Canada, Celestica Inc., Linamar, Ivanhoe Mines, Enghouse Systems, Aecon Group, TFI International, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, TransAlta Corp, Ero Copper, Denison Mines, First Quantum Minerals, Teck Resources, Parex Resources and Enerflex lost 1.5 to 4%.
Data from Statistics Canada said average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose by 5.5% year-on-year to $1,294.26 in January 2025, following a 5.9% year-over-year increase in December.
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April 04, 2025 10:36 ET President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ reciprocal tariffs dominated the news flow this week and raised worries about a full-blown trade war in future. Several survey data were also released that threw light on the manufacturing and services sectors. In Europe, inflation data for March underpinned hopes for more interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank. Survey data on the Chinese factory sector and the interest rate decision in Australia were among the main news in Asia this week.