Equities in Canada’s largest market found their way above breakeven by Wednesday’s closing bell, powered largely by gold and materials stocks, while energy issues remained weak.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 22.51 points to end Wednesday at 15,153.12
The Canadian dollar backed off 0.22 cents to 77.08 cents U.S.
Gold stocks enjoyed centre stage, primarily, Barrick Gold, galloping 60 cents, or 3%, to $20.62, while Goldcorp took on 41 cents, or 2.5%, to $16.61.
Materials stocks also fared well, with Agnico-Eagle Mines sprinting 84 cents, or 1.5%, to $57.14, while First Quantum Minerals moved higher 14 cents, or 2.1%, to $11.44.
Tech stocks also moved onto the podium, as BlackBerry improved nine cents to $12.82, while Constellation Software gained $4.93 to $667.52.
Energy stocks collapsed, though, as Crescent Point Energy gave back 56 cents, or 5.6%, to $9.39, while Cenovus Energy dumped 49 cents, or 5.1%, to $9.14.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, Canadian Tire floundered $4.48, or 3%, to $143.98, while Aimia ditched five cents, or 2.9%, to $1.69.
Consumer staples also left investors cold, as Loblaw Companies shaved off 12 cents to $71.45, while Maple Leaf Foods lost 15 cents to $32.62.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.25 points Wednesday to 762.80
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with gold shining 1.7% brighter, while materials and information technology each grew 0.8%.
The four laggards were weighed most heavily by energy, sputtering 2.2%, consumer discretionary concerns, down 0.4%, and consumer staples, ailing 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday tech snapped a three-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrials skidded 1.1 points to 21,478.17, with Intel leading advancers and Nike the biggest laggard.
The S&P 500 moved ahead 3.53 points to 2,432.54, with information technology rising 1% to lead advancers
The NASDAQ gained 40.79 points to 6,150.85, with Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet all closing higher.
Tech has been the best-performing sector this year, but it has fallen approximately 5% over the past month.
Federal Reserve minutes from the last meeting came out Wednesday, and central bank indicated a determination to continue raising rates even with muted inflation levels, which they considered to be temporary and likely to rise over the long run to a targeted level of 2%.
They also showed that Fed officials believe the central bank's massive $4.5-trillion balance sheet can be reduced with "limited" disruption to financial markets.
In economic news, factory orders fell 0.8% in May, more than expected. Later this week, the U.S. government will release its monthly employment report.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note regained lost strength, lowering yields to 2.33% from Monday’s 2.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tumbled $2.01 to $45.06 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices strengthened $6.40 to $1,225.60 U.S. an ounce.
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