Canadian Stocks Give Back Ground After Early Advance But Close Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - After moving to the upside early in the session, Canadian stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index pulled back off the record intraday high set in early trading but still ended the day up 32.29 points or 0.2 percent at a record closing high of 18,492.50.

The higher close by the index was partly due to substantial strength in the healthcare sector, with the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index soaring by 7.4 percent.

Aphria (APHA.TO) helped to lead the sector higher, skyrocketing by 27.6 percent after Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Pablo Zuanic raised his price target for the cannabis producer to C$32.50 from C$26.00.

Significant strength was also visible among energy stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent spike by the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index.

The rally by energy stocks came as the price of crude oil for March delivery climbed $0.58 to $60.05 a barrel after a winter storm shut down oil wells and refineries in Texas.

On the other hand, gold stocks saw considerable weakness on the day, dragging the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index down by 2.2 percent.

The sell-off by gold stocks came amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery tumbling $24.20 to $1,799 an ounce.