High times for Aurora Cannabis today, as its stock shot up 12.5 percent after Cowen and Co. analysts named it as their top pick in the marijuana industry.
Aurora was the most heavily traded company on Canada’s stock exchange, and helped the TSX’s health care sector rise 4.4 percent.
But the pot-stock dominated health care sector wasn’t the only sector in the green.
All told, 10 of 11 sectors traded higher as the TSX rose by 48 points.
Capping gains was a topsy-turvy day for oil prices, with prices reversing course midday. Oil lost 10 cents to $56.49 US a barrel, following the lead of a choppy day on U.S. markets, and ahead of data on American oil inventories.
The exchange’s financials sector was flat, as the Bank of Canada prepares to announce its decision on interest rates tomorrow.
Economics are predicting that the central bank will leave rates unchanged, based on Friday’s StatsCan report showing that the nation’s economy slowed to a crawl in the fourth quarter.
In New York, the Dow went backwards just before the closing bell, finishing 13 points in the red while the Nasdaq edged down by a point in what was a mixed bag of trading on Wall Street.
Impacting U.S. markets were slight losses from bellwethers Boeing and Caterpillar, and Apple.
However, Target’s stock rose 4.5 percent after the U.S.’s eighth largest retailer announced better-than-expected fourth quarter profit results.
Meanwhile, China cut its economic growth target, citing the ongoing trade war with U.S. as the primary reason why its economy is slowing down.
Gold lost value for a seventh straight day, falling another $1.40 to $1,288 an ounce while the Canadian dollar closed in to its lowest level since January, down 23/100ths of a cent to $0.7492 US.
