Equities in Canada’s largest market seesawed on Wednesday as a recovery in crude oil prices offered only muted support to the resource-linked market, while shares in home retailer RONA Inc almost doubled after a generous takeover deal.
The S&P/TSX composite index shook off a late morning slump to recover 40.19 points noon time Wednesday at 12,482.45.
The Canadian dollar popped 1.03 cents to 72.19 cents U.S.
Drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, lost 2.9% to $124.66, while auto parts maker Magna International Inc fell 4% to $45.62.
Gold miners were among the most influential risers on the index, as bullion tested a three-month high.
Barrick Gold added 3.2% to $14.28, Goldcorp gained 4.3% to $16.5, and Yamana Gold rose 7.5% to $2.73.
RONA's stock jumped from below $12.00 to $22.33, just under the $24.00 per share in cash U.S. retailer Lowe's Companies Inc said it would pay.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 1.28 points, to 496.27
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups were upwards, as metals and mining triumphed 6%, gold surged 4.6%, and materials strengthened 3.4%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, 1% sicker, industrials, 0.8% weaker, and information technology, down 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities pared losses on Wednesday, brought about by weak services data, as oil bounced back.
The Dow Jones industrial average fought its way to within 10.31 points of breakeven to greet noon Wednesday at 16,143.23, with DuPont leading advancers and Intel the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 lost 6.07 points to 1,896.96, with financials leading five sectors lower and materials the greatest advancer.
The NASDAQ index still negative 46.27 points, or 1%, to 4,470.67.
Investors also digested a slew of corporate earnings reports from companies like, General Motors, Merck, Yahoo and Comcast, among others.
The index turned negative after the Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing index reading for January came in weaker than expected.
The ISM non-manufacturing index January reading came in at 53.5, below the expected 55.1. It is also the lowest reading since December 2013.
ADP reported that private U.S. payrolls jumped 205,000 last month, above a consensus estimate of 195,000.
West Texas Intermediate traded about 5% higher in choppy trade after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. inventories rose by 7.8 million barrels last week. Crude prices briefly erased gains following the data release, but surged on a weaker dollar.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury remained on the up side, lowering yields to 1.82% from Tuesday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.59 a barrel to $31.47 U.S.
Gold prices grew $10.03 to $1,139.04 U.S. an ounce.
