Equities in Toronto were above the breakeven point Tuesday, amid geopolitical tensions that hiked prices for gold and mining stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 25.45 points to close at 13,407.83
The Canadian dollar gained 0.30 cents at 75.06 cents U.S.
Gold stocks shone brightest, as Barrick Gold climbed 3.4% to $9.84, and Goldcorp added 1.2% to $15.77.
Among metals and mining stocks, Teck Resources hiked 1.6% to $5.62, while Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan gained 0.7% to $26.51.
Utilities took the biggest bruises, followed by industrial stocks, as Bombardier fell 4.8% to $1.18. Among telecoms, BCE got pummeled 2.7%, to $56.45
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched back 2.07 points to 519.09.
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, seven moved higher, as gold leaped 2.9%, metals and mining picked up 2.5%, and materials were better by 2.1%.
Among the half-dozen laggards, utilities flickered 2.4% lower, while industrials and telecoms each surrendered 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mostly higher Tuesday, as gains in oil prices and energy stocks helped offset an earlier decline following news of a downed Russian jet near the Syrian border.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day up 19.51 points to 17,812.19, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 moved forward 2.55 points to 2,089.14. Energy ended up about 2.2% after earlier gaining more than 2.5% as the top advancer in the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ index nicked up 0.33 points to 5,102.81, as Apple rose nearly 1% but Facebook, Amazon and shares of Alphabet fell about 1%.
The Dow is still in negative territory for the year, while the S&P 500 is 1.5% for 2015, and the NASDAQ has hiked 7.7% year-to-date.
Campbell Soup, Dollar Tree, Hormel Food, and Tiffany reported ahead of the bell. Hewlett Packard does so after the bell, as do Guess and TiVo.
A Russian warplane was shot down near the Syrian border Tuesday after it reportedly entered Turkish airspace. State-run Turkish news service Anadolu Agency said that the downed warplane was a Russian-made SU-24 and had been engaged by two Turkish F16 jets
In economic news, revised third-quarter U.S. Gross Domestic Product came in as expected, up 2.1% from the original reading of 1.5%.
Consumer confidence came in at 90.4 for November. The figure was expected to rise to 99.5 from 97.6.
Moreover, the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan U.S. areas gained 5.5% in September on a year-over-year basis compared with 5.1% in the year to August. It was above the 5.1% estimate from a poll of economists.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries eked out a gain, lowering yields to 2.24% from Monday’s 2.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.11 a barrel to $42.86 U.S.
Gold prices perked $6.57 to $1,075.75 U.S. an ounce.
