Canada’s main stock index opened lower on Tuesday, dragged down by mining shares as gold prices retreated on firmer U.S. dollar, offsetting gains in tech stocks.
At 9:32 a.m. ET, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.38 per cent at 33,649.33 points.
Gold retreated more than 2 per cent on Tuesday, slipping from a three‑week high as profit‑taking and a firmer dollar weighed on the market, while traders awaited clarity on U.S. tariff plans and rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Spot gold dropped 2.1 per cent to US$5,119.67 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were down 1.7 per cent at US$5,138.30.
Wall Street’s main indexes were subdued on Tuesday as investors assessed Anthropic’s announcement of new AI tools, including plug-ins that could help with investment banking tasks, private equity, engineering and design.
Anthropic unveiled 10 new ways for business customers to plug in its technology to key areas of their work, weeks after other releases sparked an aggressive selloff of traditional software company shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.93 points, or 0.01%, to 48,789.46, the S&P 500 lost 4.18 points, or 0.06%, to 6,832.89 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.66 points, or 0.02%, to 22,635.01
Advanced Micro Devices soared more than 6 per cent in early trafing after the chipmaker announced that it was expanding its partnership to ramp up Meta’s AI infrastructure. The investment could eventually reach a value of around US$100-million, with Meta taking a 10-per-cent stake in AMD. Meta fell 1.1 per cent.
On Monday, a report by Citrini Research, a New York financial services company, outlined a future scenario in which AI’s dominance caused the “human-centric consumer economy,” to wither away with dire consequences for employment, was the latest hit to confidence for companies that might be displaced by fast expanding use of the technology.
“Policy response has always lagged economic reality, but lack of a comprehensive plan is now threatening to accelerate a deflationary spiral,” the report says.
A profit report from Nvidia is due on Wednesday. Worries are rising that companies like Alphabet and Amazon may be spending so much on Nvidia’s chips that they’ll never be able to recoup their investments through higher productivity and future profits.
In other equities trading, Home Depot gained 3.4 per cent after it topped Wall Street’s fourth-quarter projections despite ongoing caution from American consumers amid a housing slump.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1 per cent lower, the CAC 40 in Paris ticked up 0.1 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was unchanged.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index surged 0.9 per cent to 57,321.09. Chip testing equipment maker Advantest rose 4.5 per cent, while machinery maker Disco Corp. added 2.1 per cent.
Markets in mainland China advanced as they reopened following a weeklong holiday, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell as traders locked in profits from recent gains, slipping 1.8 per cent to 26,590.32.
The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9 per cent to 4,117.41.
In South Korea, the Kospi picked up 2.1 per cent to 5,969.64, setting fresh records on gains for memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics, which jumped 3.6 per cent. SK Hynix, another chipmaker, closed 5.7 per cent higher.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged less than 0.1 per cent lower, ending at 9,022.30, while Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.8 per cent.
India’s Sensex fell 1.3 per cent.
Tuesday will bring President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, where investors hope the president will clarify U.S. tariff policy going forward after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping import taxes last week.
In energy trading early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 11 cents to $66.42 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 7 cents at $71.18 per barrel.
Crude prices have been gaining on worries that President Donald Trump might take military action against Iran.
The U.S. dollar rose to 155.86 Japanese yen from 154.66 yen. The euro fell to $1.1777 from $1.1786.
The price of bitcoin fell 4.3 per cent to $63,180.
The Associated Press and Reuters