Equities in Toronto cooled off Wednesday from the dizzy heights at which they dwelled much of the day, but still beat the breakeven point, as the afterglow from the U.S. elections remained south of the border.
The TSX came off its highs of the morning, but still gained 60.21 points, to end Wednesday at 15,999.36.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.24 cents at 76.07 cents U.S.
Tech stocks led the charge, with Shopify up $65.76, or 5.3%, to $1,302.77, while Lightspeed POS jumped $2.49, or 5.8%, to $45.50.
Among communications issues, Rogers gained 96 cents, or 1.8%, to $55.24, while Shaw Communications took on 26 cents, or 1.2%, to $22.25.
In the real-estate, CT Real Estate Investment Trust soared 23 cents, or 1.6%, to $14.30, while Dream Office REIT picked up 17 cents to $18.41.
Health-care stocks put the brakes on the rally with Aurora Cannabis sinking 60 cents, or 9.4%, to $5.82, while Canopy Growth fell $1.98, or 7.4%, to $24.93.
In resource stocks, First Quantum Mining dipped 66 cents, or 4.3%, to $14.70, while Teck Resources fell 52 cents, or 2.9%, to $17.23.
Barrick Gold lost 52 cents, or 1.4%, to $36.00, while Kirkland Lake Gold slipped 63 cents, or 1%, to $61.36.
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 faded 1.34 points to 696.31.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided Wednesday, as information technology clicked 3.8% higher, communications improved 1.2%, and real-estate took a hold of 1.1%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed down by health-care, skidding 2%, materials, down 1.8%, and gold slumping 1.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday even as the results of the presidential contest so far failed to yield a clear winner.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 367.63 points, or 1.3%, though off its spellbinding highs of the day, to 27,847.66.
The S&P 500 jumped 74.28 points, or 2.2%, to 3,443.44
The NASDAQ popped 430.21 points, or 3.9%, to 11,590.78, as investors crowded back into the trade that’s been working for most of this tumultuous year.
Shares of major tech-related companies jumped with Apple and Microsoft both up at least 4%. Facebook popped 8.3%, while Google-parent Alphabet and Amazon both jumped more than 6%.
Traders appeared to look past the presidential race and instead concentrated on the battle for the Senate, where odds were increasing Republicans would keep control.
Media reports projected that Democrat Joe Biden is the apparent winner in Wisconsin, a state President Donald Trump won in 2016. Trump’s campaign manager said Trump plans to request a formal recount in Wisconsin.
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.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 0.77% from Tuesday’s 0.90%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up $1.33 at $38.99 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell behind $7.80 to $1,902.60.
