TSX Ends Modestly Higher Again

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market recovered after a weak start ended modestly higher on Wednesday, as reports that the U.S. government was considering to delay imposing tariffs on the auto industry by six months.

The start was weak, with investors reacting to Canadian consumer price inflation data and reports on U.S. retail sales and industrial production.

The mood was positive after mid morning thanks to higher crude oil prices and easing worries about trade war.

The benchmark S&p/TSX Composite Index ended up 33.61 points, or 0.21%, at 16,318.14. The index, which dropped to a low of 16,229.69 in early trades, rose to 16,341.34 later on in the session.

Information technology and cannabis shares were the notable gainers. A few stocks from industrials space rose sharply.

Financial, materials, energy, consumer staples and consumer discretionary sections turned in a mixed performance.

In the information technology space, Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) gained 4.15% and BlackBerry (BB.TO) ended 1.05% up.

Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) gained 2.2% after the company said it has acquired Vidyo, Inc. for a purchase price of approximately $40 million. Vidyo's annual revenue is approximately $60 million.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) gained more than 3% after the company reported a surge in quarterly revenue.

Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO) jumped nearly 5% and CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TRST.TO) advanced 1.85%.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Roxgold (ROXG.TO) and Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) ended with strong gains, while First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) ended lower by about 2.7%.

Maxar Technologies (MAXR.TO) declined more than 10% on profit taking after recent steep rise. The company announced today that it has been awarded a follow-on contract valued at $4.3 million by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to test its Geospatial Cloud Analytics (GCA) Hub.

Corus Entertainment Inc. shares are down more than 17% with Shaw Communications Inc. selling its stake in Corus for $548 million.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada said inflation rose 2% on year-over-year basis in April, following a 1.9% increase in March. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% in April.

Meanwhile, a report from the Canadian Real Estate Association said Home sales recorded via Canadian MLS Systems rose by 3.6% month-on-month in April 2019.

U.S. stocks ended higher, bouncing back smartly after a weak start. The market gained in strength thanks to positive reaction to reports President Donald Trump plans to delay imposing steep tariffs on auto imports.

The Dow ended up 0.5% and the S&P 500 gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.1%.

Data from the Commerce Department showed retail sales edged down by 0.2% in April after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.7% in March.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.2% compared to the 1.6% jump originally reported for the previous month.

The Federal Reserve report said industrial production fell by 0.5% in April following a revised 0.2% uptick in March. Economists had expected production to come in unchanged.

European and Asian markets too ended higher on Wednesday as worries about trade war faded a bit.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $0.24, at $62.02 a barrel.

Gold futures for June ended up $1.50, or about 0.1%, at $1,297.80 an ounce, off the day's high of $1,301.70.

Silver futures for July ended unchanged at $14.812 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $2.7430 per pound, gaining $0.0190 for the session.