The last trading day of the year saw Canada’s main stock index nudge up, rounding out a climb of nearly eight per cent throughout 2023 as investors drew confidence from projections of interest rate cuts to come.
On Friday, gains in the industrials and utilities sectors pushed the S&P/TSX composite index up 29.06 points to close at 20,958.44, even as U.S. markets dipped.
The bump also came despite a slip in battery metals and base metals on the Canadian index. The decrease owed partly to U.S. dollar strength, said Allan Small, a senior investment adviser at iA Private Wealth.
“That tends to take some steam out of those sectors, but overall it’s nothing that I would call the start of a trend,” he said.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 20.56 points at 37,689.54. The S&P 500 index was down 13.52 points at 4,769.83, while the Nasdaq composite was down 83.78 points at 15,011.35.
A relative lack of movement on any of…
