Consumer-related stocks help lift TSX to record closing high

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By Fergal Smith

(Reuters) -Canada’s stock market rose to a record high on Wednesday, led by gains for the utilities and consumer-related sectors, as long-term borrowing costs fell and investors grew less anxious about the prospect of sweeping U.S. tariffs on imports from Canada.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 83.16 points, or 0.3%, at 25,488.30, eclipsing the record closing high it posted on Friday.

Investors have “had a day to think about the tariff situation and maybe it’s not as bad as they originally thought,” said Michael Sprung, president of Sprung Investment Management.

After Monday’s market close, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico in a move that weighed on energy, railroad, aerospace and auto-parts manufacturing shares.

“There’s a lot of details to be worked out with these tariffs and I’m pretty sure President Trump does not want to be in a position to cause massive inflation in the U.S.,” Sprung said. “And the U.S. depends on Canada for a lot of energy products, whether it’s oil, gas or electricity.”

Oil producers in Canada and Mexico will likely be forced to reduce prices and divert supply to Asia if Trump imposes tariffs on crude imports from the two countries, analysts said.

The consumer staples sector rose 1.9%, consumer discretionary was up 0.8% and utilities ended 0.9% higher.

The Canadian 10-year yield eased 5 basis points to 3.236%, its fourth-straight day of declines.

Shares of fuel distributor Parkland Corp rose 5.1% as the company said it would enter into a stock buyback program.

Alimentation Couche-Tard was another standout, rising 4.3%, as a number of analysts raised their target price on the convenience store operator’s stock.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Rod Nickel)