Canadian Stocks Steady After PM's Assurance Of A Trade Deal

(RTTNews) - Canadian stock edged higher on Wednesday, as investors were hopeful that the nation would make a favorable deal with the US as assured by their PM Mark Carney.

Today, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, after opening past yesterday's close, rallied for an hour hitting the day's high of 26,639.01. It continued to swing past noon after which it managed to settle at 26,559.85 up by 18.46 (or 0.07 percent).

Though the 90-day tariff reprieve set by US expires on July 9, Canadian PM Mark Carney's assertion post G7 summit that Canada and US are aiming for a trade deal within 30 days kept the hopes of investors alive today. No concrete details of the plan have emerged so far though.

On the external front, today the US Federal Reserve left the interest rates unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50% for the fourth consecutive time. This decision was broadly in line with market expectations. Notably, the Fed has projected two rate cuts later this year.

On the geopolitical front, traders were anxious about the possibility of US participating in the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. When asked, the US President Donald Trump stated that though Iran had reached out to the US for talks now, he felt it was "a little late". He also confirmed encouraging Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to "keep going" with his attacks.

US participation could escalate the crisis by increasing the chances of Iran's allies joining the war and prolong the conflict thus impacting the global financial and commodity markets severely.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Healthcare (2.18%), IT (0.94%), Financials (0.54%), and Real Estate (0.49%).

Among the individual stocks, Bausch Health Companies (8.46%), Celestica (3.39%), Constellation Software (1.80%), and Brookfield Corporation (2.96%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Energy (1.04%), Utilities (0.38%), Consumer Discretionary (0.36%), and Materials (0.13%).

Among the individual stocks, Suncor Energy (2.02%), Brookfield Renewables (1.33%), and Dollarama (1.75%) were the notable losers.