Aug 15 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index closed flat on Friday as investors keenly watched a high-stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on a potential path to ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump and Putin met face-to-face in Alaska on Friday afternoon. Markets are hoping the meeting could pave the way for a resolution to the Ukraine conflict and determine the outlook for crude prices.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 10.50 points, or 0.04%, at 27,905.49. The index gained 0.5% in the week.
, blue-chip Dow Jones ended higher after hitting an intraday record high, but other Wall Street indexes slipped as mixed data clouded the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy move.
Among TSX sub-indexes, healthcare rose 4%, boosted by an 11% jump in Bausch Health Companies.
Materials rose 0.8%, while energy stocks fell 0.2%.
“Short-term investors are hoping at least the meeting brings some kind of ceasefire or at least has continuous talks as we’re moving towards the end of the summer,” said Michael Constantino, CEO at Webull Canada.
Meanwhile, Air Canada’s unionized flight attendants threatened to go on strike just before 1:00 a.m. ET on Saturday with the country’s largest air carrier warning it would cancel 500 flights by the end of the day. Its shares were up about 0.6%.
Data on Friday showed Canadian factory sales grew 0.3% in June from May, led by petroleum, coal and food products, while wholesale trade rose 0.7% on gains in food, beverage and tobacco.
South of the border, retail sales rose by an expected 0.5% in July, but a spike in import prices raised concerns that U.S. tariffs could fuel inflation in the months ahead. (Reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Nivedita Balu; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Marguerita Choy)
