Equities in Canada’s largest market rose to a fresh 20-month high on Wednesday as financial and industrial shares led a broad-based rally and Encana Corp jumped on an improved outlook.
The S&P/TSX Composite hiked 103.55 points to moved into noon hour at 15,506.58
The Canadian dollar leaped 0.79 cents to 75.19 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included its biggest bank, Royal Bank of Canada, which rose 1.1% to $92.50, and Encana, which gained 4.7$ to $16.81.
WestJet Airlines Ltd rose 2.3% to $23.60 and Canadian National Railway added 0.9% to $91.32, helping the industrials sector rise 0.9%.
Financials gained as Manulife Financial Corp added 1% and most of the country's big banks pushed higher.
On the negative side, Barrick Gold Corp slipped 0.8% to $21.87 and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International fell 2.2% to $20.07.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange popped 5.86 points to 779.63
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with consumer discretionary stocks climbing 1.1%, industrials, up 1%, and financials, gaining 0.8%.
The two laggards were health-care, failing 1.8%, and gold, falling off 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, led by consumer discretionary stocks, as investors looked out for the Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 46.92 points to 19,928.68, with Nike leading advancers and UnitedHealth the biggest decliner.
The S&P 500 picked up 12.11 points to 2,269.94, with consumer discretionary leading nine sectors higher and telecommunications and energy declining.
The NASDAQ composite index grew 43.93 points to 5,473.01
Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor and General Motors all reported better-than-expected auto sales for December, sending their stocks higher. The annualized selling rate is expected to be around a strong 17.5 million.
Investors will be looking for clues about what the central bank is expecting from President-elect Donald Trump in terms of fiscal stimulus. The Fed raised rates at its last meeting for just the second time in a decade and forecast three rate hikes for 2017. The minutes are scheduled for release at 2 p.m. ET.
In other economic news, mortgage applications tanked 12% for last week, from two weeks earlier as rising interest rates weighed.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost strength, raising yields to 2.46% from Tuesday’s 2.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 87 cents to $53.20 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices moved higher two dollars to $1,164.00 U.S. an ounce.
