Gains for TSX Monday

Stocks in Canada’s largest centre finished Monday with healthy gains, spurred on tech and energy issues, this, as Canadians go to the polls to elect a new Parliament.

The TSX Composite Index gained 41.33 points to end Monday at 16,418.45

The Canadian dollar added 0.27 cents at 76.42 cents U.S.

Tech issues led the pack, with Celestica acquiring 19 cents, or 2.2%, to $8.92, while BlackBerry, better by 14 cents, or 2.1%, to $6.81.

Energy stocks moved higher, too, as Tourmaline Oil jumped 44 cents, or 3.9%, to $11.80, while Crescent Group Energy hiked 10 cents, or 2%, to $5.08.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Knight Therapeutics, which jumped $1.03, or 13.7%, to $8.54, and Hudsons Bay Co., which rose 60 cents, or 6.3%, to $10.05

Elsewhere in health-care stocks, Cronos Group popped 21 cents, or 1.9%, to $11.14.

Gold did not have such a shiny day, however, as Centerra Gold docked 52 cents, or 4.1%, to $12.13, while IAMGOLD lost 22 cents, or 4.7%, to $4.45.

In materials, First Majestic Silver slipped 40 cents, or 3%, to $13.06, while Franco-Nevada let go of $1.98, or 1.6%, to $120.47.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange regained 0.92 points to 543.36

All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive on the day, led by information technology, ahead 1.4%, while energy picked up 0.9%, and health-care recovered 0.8%.

The two laggards were gold, down 2.5%, and materials, down 1.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks closed higher on Monday, boosted by optimism around U.S.-China trade talks as well as the corporate earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 57.44 points to finish Monday at 26,827.64

The S&P 500 added 20.52 points to 3,006.72, notching its first close above 3,000 since Sept. 18. The NASDAQ Composite strengthened 73.44 points to 8,162.99.

Apple shares led the Dow higher, rising more than 1.5% to a record high after an analyst at Raymond James hiked his price target on the tech giant to $380 per share from $250. Those gains offset a 3.8% drop in Boeing’s stock.

Investors were also focused on the corporate earnings season, with more than 120 S&P 500 companies on deck to report. McDonald’s, Ford Motor, Boeing and Caterpillar are among the companies set to release their results.

The earnings season got off to a strong start as companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Netflix and Citigroup posted better-than-expected results. To be sure, companies are beating muted estimates. Analysts expect overall S&P 500 earnings for the third quarter to have fallen by 4.7%.

Cadence Design Systems, Celanese and Zions Bancorp are among some of the companies poised to report their latest quarterly figures after the market close Monday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said over the weekend Beijing would work with the U.S. to address one another’s trade concerns. He also said both sides have made "substantial progress" on trade. China’s chief negotiator in the trade talks also said that stopping the trade war would be good for both countries — as well as the global economy.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 1.80% from Friday’s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices skidded 78 cents to $53.00 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices slumped $6.20 to $1,487.90 U.S. an ounce.