The TSX ticker is shown in Toronto on May 10, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO - North American markets were in search of direction Tuesday as Congressional testimony by the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman failed to ignite much trading reaction.

Crystal Maloney, head of equity research at CIBC Asset Management, says Jerome Powell didn't unveil anything new during the first of two days of testimony, repeating that he expects solid but slower growth in 2019 and remains patient on raising interest rates.

A key market driver is U.S.-China trade talks. Sentiment improved on U.S. President Donald Trump's weekend comments that he would delay tariff increases on Chinese goods.

"People are waiting to see," she said in an interview. "The key debate is figuring out how much of this U.S.-China trade tensions are priced into the markets."

However, several Canadian forest products producers saw their share prices fall as the United States reported that housing starts fell 11.2 per cent in December to the lowest level in more than two years.

Canfor Corp. shares lost 9.4 per cent, Norbord Inc. was down 6.9 per cent and Interfor Corp. off 7.6 per cent.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 10.88 points to 16,067.91 after hitting an intraday high of 16,115.83.

Health care rose 3.8 per cent as several cannabis names, including Cronos Group Inc., Aurora Cannabis Inc and Canopy Growth Corp., saw mid-single-digit gains as some new brokerage initiations drove increased interest in the sector, said Maloney.

Consumer staples rose 0.78 per cent, while technology fell 0.68 per cent, followed by materials and industrials.

The April gold contract was down US$1 at US$1,328.50 an ounce and the May copper contract was up 0.15 of a cent at US$2.95 a pound.

"We have seen a bit of a pullback in gold and silver since the year-to-date highs we saw last week but the current levels appear to be well supported from a technical standpoint," she added.

The April crude contract was up two cents at US$55.50 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down 1.9 cents at US$2.80 per mmBTU.

The financial sector was down slightly as the Bank of Nova Scotia fell on weaker results while the Bank of Montreal rose after its quarterly results beat expectations.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 33.97 points at 26,057.98. The S&P 500 index was down 2.21 points at 2,793.90, while the Nasdaq composite was down 5.16 points at 7,549.30.

The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.79 cents US compared with an average of 75.91 cents US on Monday.

Companies, index and currency in this story: (TSX:CFP, TSX:OSB, TSX:IFP, TSX:ACB, TSX:WEED, TSX:CRON, TSX:BMO, TSX:BNS, TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)

News from © The Canadian Press, 2019