Toronto stocks up, while loonie edges higher; U.S. markets closed for July

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press</span>
Published Wednesday, July 4, 2018 5:22PM EDT

Canada's main stock index closed higher Wednesday helped by broad-based gains in the health-care, energy, and gold sectors, while the loonie inched higher.

Enbridge Inc.'s deal to sell $4.31-billion worth of Western Canadian natural gas infrastructure was the big mover of the day, said Michael Currie, vice-president and senior investment advisor at TD Wealth.

"It's definitely the biggest story of the day, it definitely got it moving. Enbridge has been struggling a bit this year, it's still negative year-to-date. But it's nice to see a deal where both Enbridge and Brookfield did take a jump on the day."

Enbridge ended up 45 cents or 0.97 per cent at $46.84 while Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, which has agreed to buy the assets, closed up $1.98 or 3.93 per cent at $52.38.

The positive response from investors in both companies helped the TSX in general on the day, said Currie.

"It seems like it fits in with what Brookfield's been trying to do, taking more steps into the gas distribution business. For Enbridge it's part of their strategy to reduce their debt. So it seems like a win-win which is nice to see and that's probably got the TSX up overall with strength in the energy sector."

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 41.56 points at 16,304.72 on a day that saw lighter than usual trading.

In New York, Wall Street markets were closed for the U.S. July 4 holiday.

On Friday the U.S. is set to impose a 25 per cent tariff on US$34 billion worth of Chinese imports. China is expected to strike back with tariffs on a similar amount of U.S. exports. The pending tariffs, and the potential to add tariffs to hundreds of billions worth of more products, has put pressure on Chinese currency, said Currie.

"That got the Chinese yuan swinging around until the bank intervened to get that flat again, China stocks are a little bit down today, that's one concern."

The Canadian dollar averaged 76.09 cents US, up 0.07 of a US cent.

In international trading, the August crude contract was up 19 cents at US$74.33 per barrel and the August natural gas contract was down three cents at US$2.84 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract was up $4.60 at US$1,258.10 an ounce and the September copper contract was down six cents at US$2.86 a pound.

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