Canadian market down following Trump's auto comments

Ottawa, Jan 17
The Canadian stock market was down on the first day of the week following US President-elect Donald Trump's claims to impose a tax on foreign-automotive companies.

on Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard and Poor's/TSX Composite moved down 17.99 points, or 0.12 per cent, to close the day at 15,479.29 points. Six of the ten sub-sectors closed the session lower, Xinhua news agency reported.

In an interview with a German daily on Monday, Trump said he would impose a 35 per cent tax on imported vehicles into the US.

As a result, the TSX Consumer Discretionary group, which consists of of producers of non-essentials goods including automobiles, saw the biggest percentage drop on the day of 0.44 per cent.

Canada's two largest automobile parts manufacturers Magna International Inc. and Linamar Corporation saw shares dip 3.13 per cent to 56.98 Canadian dollars ($43) and 3.49 perc ent to 55.65 Canadian dollars ($42), respectively.

Also affected by the news was Ontario-based Martinrea International Inc., which produces metal parts for the automotive sector. Shares of the firm slumped 6.12 per cent to 8.28 Canadian dollars ($6).

Other groups to finish lower on the day included: financials (0.30 per cent), energy (0.22 per cent), materials (0.08 per cent), telecommunications (0.01 per cent), and industrials (0.01 per cent).

Groups that did not experience losses on Monday were: utilities (0.38 per cent), health care (0.33 per cent), consumer staples (0.07 per cent), and information technology (no change).

The Canadian dollar ended eighth straight session of gains, slipping 0.33 cents to $0.7584.