Canadian Stocks Finish Choppy Trading Day Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading session on Tuesday but managed to end the day modestly higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged before closing up 12.11 points or 0.1 percent at 16,681.29.

The choppy trading came as traders remain optimistic about a U.S.-China trade deal but seemed to be waiting for more concrete developments.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are widely expected to sign phase one of an agreement sometime this month.

As part of the deal, the U.S. is likely to scrap tariffs on about $156 billion worth of Chinese imports currently set to take effect on December 15th.

A report from the Financial Times said the U.S. is also considering China's request to lift the 15 percent tariff on about $125 billion worth of Chinese goods that went into effect on September 1st.

A person familiar with Beijing's negotiating position told Reuters that China is continuing to press Washington to "remove all tariffs as soon as possible."

On the economic front, Statistics Canada released a report showing the Canadian trade deficit narrowed to C$978 million in September from C$1.2 billion in August, as imports fell by more than exports.

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader market, energy stocks saw continued strength, driving the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index up by 1.2 percent.

The strength among energy stocks came amid a continued increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for December delivery climbing $0.69 to $57.23 a barrel.

On the other hand, technology stocks showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index down by 2.1 percent.