Higher Opening for TSX as Votes Still Being Counted Down South

Canada's main stock index opened higher on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street as results from the U.S. presidential election proved far closer than polls had predicted.

The TSX moved doggedly higher, 25.98 points, to open Wednesday at 15,965.13.

The Canadian dollar turfed 0.44 cents at 75.87 cents U.S.

Among individual stocks, Canopy Growth said on Tuesday it would move its U.S. stock listing to the NASDAQ, following rival Aphria in favoring the exchange's "cost-effectiveness".

Canopy shares swooned $2.16, or 8%, to $24.75, while those for Aphria ducked 32 cents, or 4.9%, to $6.25.

National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Goeasy Ltd. to $93.00 from $77.00. Goeasy shares rocketed $2.42, or 3.3%, to $76.67.

Scotiabank raised the target price on Wajax to $17.00 from $15.00. Wajax shares took on 24 cents, or 1.7%, to $14.04.

In the economic docket, Statistics Canada revealed Wednesday that our country’s merchandise exports and imports each increased in September by 1.5%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world widened slightly from $3.2 billion in August to $3.3 billion in September.


ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange nicked up 1.02 points to 698.67.

The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers, as information technology raced 2.3%, while consumer staples triumphed 1.6%, and communications were better by 1.5%.

The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, off 1.7%, while materials and gold each doffed 0.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, led by tech shares, even as the results of the presidential contest so far failed to yield a clear winner.

The Dow Jones Industrials raced ahead 554.89 points, or 2%, carrying on from Tuesday’s mammoth rise, to 28,024.92.

The S&P 500 jumped 92.6 points, or 2.8%, to 3,461.44.

The NASDAQ popped 444.27 points, or 4%, in Wednesday’s first hour to 11,606.83.

President Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential vote in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky along with South Dakota, Arkansas and Ohio, media reports said. Trump is also projected to win Alabama and North Dakota. Biden is projected to win Vermont, Delaware, Maryland and Massachusetts as well as Colorado, New York and Virginia.

Shares of major tech-related companies jumped with Amazon, Apple and Microsoft all up at least 3%. Facebook popped 7%, while Google-parent Alphabet jumped more than 5%.

Prices for the 10-Year Treasury climbed, reducing yields to 0.76% from Tuesday’s 0.90%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices picked up 56 cents at $38.22 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices sagged $5.40 to $1,905.