Gold mining stocks were a hot commodity on Bay Street today, and helped power the TSX to an 85-point gain.
Ten of the index’s 11 main sectors traded higher, including a 2.2 percent rise in materials.
Gold proves to be a safe haven for investors in a fragile market, and the yellow metal shot up $22.50 in value to $1,302 an ounce.
As a result, it was a good day for Canadian mining companies, led by a 6.3 percent surge in Lundin Mining shares.
A three percent jump in the pot stocks-dominated health care sector also lifted Canada’s stock exchange into the green.
Shares in Canopy Growth shot up 8.6 percent after analysts from Piper Jaffray raised the cannabis producers’ stock price target. Earlier this week, the company announced plans to expand its global reach to the UK and Poland through its medically-focused business Spectrum Cannabis.
In New York, a temporary resolution to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history along with strong sales reports from Starbucks impacted sentiment on Wall Street.
President Donald Trump announced that a deal has been reached “to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government.”
The government will stay open until Feb. 15, during which time talks will continue on a deal that may include border wall funding.
Today’s announcement helped factor into a rise in U.S. markets, with the Dow gaining 183 points and the Nasdaq up by 91 points.
Among today’s gainers were Boeing, Caterpillar, Apple, which jumped 3.3 percent, Starbucks, and Home Depot.
U.S. markets moved up despite the arrest of one of Trump’s long-time advisors, and a continued cloud of uncertainty hanging over U.S./China trade talks.
The price of oil was up by 43 cents to $53.56 US a barrel, while the loonie made some major headway against a weakening greenback, climbing 74/100ths of a cent to $0.7564 US.
