Canada’s main stock index opened lower on Monday, as energy shares fell alongside the price of oil.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 15.5 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 15,140.
U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday as shares of Apple and its suppliers were hit by ongoing concerns of slowing demand for iPhones, while conflicting signals of a potential truce in the China-U.S. trade dispute added to market jitters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.61 points, or 0.08 per cent, at the open to 25,392.61. The S&P 500 opened lower by 5.53 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 2,730.74. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 30.63 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 7,217.24 at the opening bell.
Shares of Apple Inc fell 2.6 per cent in early trading after the Wall Street Journal reported the company has cut production orders in recent weeks for all three iPhone models launched in September.
The iPhone maker’s stock is down almost 12 per cent this month following the company’s lower-than-expected sales forecast for the holiday quarter and a string of weak forecasts from several of its suppliers.
Shares of Apple suppliers Skyworks Solutions Inc and Lumentum Holdings Inc were also down.
Micron Technology Inc fell 1.4 per cent after a report that Chinese authorities have alleged “massive evidence” of antitrust violations by the world’s top three memory chip makers, in the latest industrial spat that threatens to upset global trade relations.
Clashes between China and the U.S. at a Pacific Rim summit over the weekend may signal limited prospects for a breakthrough in a standoff over the Trump administration’s complaints that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology as the price of market access. The U.S. has imposed a 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods. That tariff is set to rise to 25 per cent in January. Another $50 billion of Chinese goods already is subject to 25 per cent duties. Beijing has responded with penalty duties on $110 billion of American goods. Talks continue ahead of a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump planned for the G-20 summit later this month.
“With it being Thanksgiving week the amount of key economic data to be released is limited, so focus is expected to remain on the latest Brexit developments and U.S. trade tensions,” said Sam Buckingham, Investment Analyst at Thomas Miller Investment.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.7 per cent to finish at 21,821.16 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7 per cent to 26,372.00. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.9 per cent to 2,703.51 and India’s Sensex climbed 0.6 per cent to 35,666.25. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4 per cent to 2,100.06. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6 per cent to 5,693.70. Shares in Southeast Asia were mixed.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 22 cents to $56.68 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 11 cents to $66.87 per barrel.
Reuters and The Associated Press