Canadian stocks had wound their way into positive country by midday Tuesday, as investors, wary over political uncertainties from the United States to the Middle East, shied way from riskier assets, and gold mining companies, bolstered by a surge in bullion prices, offset declines.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 2.73 points to greet noon at 15,412.51
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.11 cents to 74.31 cents U.S.
The materials group, which includes precious metal miners, jumped as Barrick Gold climbing 3.9% to $22.64, and Kinross Gold rallying 5.1% to $6.01.
IAMGOLD soared 8.7% to $6.60 after Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co said it agreed to take an interest in a gold mining project from the company for $195 million.
Financials, including banks and insurers, continued to take their lumps, as Manulife Financial declined 1.3% to $23.20, while Royal Bank of Canada dipped 0.5% to $93.02.
On the economic front, Western University’s IVEY School of Business reported Purchasing Manager's Index (seasonally-adjusted) for May stands at 53.8, indicating that purchases were less than the previous month. The number for April was 62.4, while the May 2016 figure was 49.4.
Any reading over 50 denotes expansion among purchasing managers’ expenditures; anything below 50 indicates contraction.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.54 points to 800.75
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups remained negative, as finance skidded 0.6%, while information technology dipped 0.5%, and consumer discretionary issues faded 0.4%.
The four gainers were led by gold, up 3.2%, materials, hurtling 2.2%, and utilities, up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Shares south of the border traded mixed on Tuesday as Wall Street braced for key events slated for later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials stayed negative 15.34 points to 21,168.70, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 dipped 2.76 points to 2,433.34, with financials pulling back
The NASDAQ dropped 1.67 points to 6,294.01
In economic news, job openings hit a record high in April, according to the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which showed a total of six million openings.
Former FBI Director James Comey is slated to testify Thursday in front of the Senate intelligence committee, marking his first public comment since being fired by President Donald Trump.
Comey will certainly be asked about his reported conversations with Trump and any efforts the president made to interfere with a probe on former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
Investors also braced themselves for a general election in the United Kingdom set for Thursday. While a vast majority of observers still expect Theresa May to emerge victorious on Thursday, a Survation poll published last weekend placed the prime minister's ruling right-wing Conservative Party ahead by just a single percentage point.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hiked, lowering yields to 2.14% from Monday’s 2.18%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 23 cents to $47.63 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $13.40 at $1,296.10 U.S. an ounce.
