Equities in Toronto edged higher for the third straight session on Wednesday, helped by gains in financial stocks, as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's verdict on further monetary tightening.
The TSX took on 56.13 points, to open for business Wednesday at 19,711.05.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.04 to 72.91 cents U.S.
Among company news, brokerage Scotiabank upgraded Africa Oil Corp to "sector outperform" from "sector perform". Africa Oil shares captured 11 cents, or 3.9%, to $2.95.
In matters economic, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index declined 0.2% month over month in February, following a similar decrease in January. The index has been down in five of the last six months. In February, prices were down or unchanged in 25 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed and up in two.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.14 points to 606.69.
Six of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with consumer staples progressing 0.9%, gold, up 0.7%, and materials, better by 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by real-estate, sifting off 0.6%, information technology down 0.3%, and utilities losing 0.2%.
Communications stocks were unchanged in the first hour.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks inched up on Wednesday as Wall Street braced for the Federal Reserve’s first potential rate hike since the recent fallout in the banking sector.
The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 38.47 points to 32,599.07.
The S&P 500 acquired 8.86 points to 4,011.73.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 31.52 points to 11,891.62.
The Fed is slated to conclude its two-day policy meeting Wednesday, with an announcement expected for 2 p.m. ET. Most investors expect the central bank to stay committed to its tightening and raise rates by 25 basis points. As of Wednesday morning, there is about an 90% chance of a quarter-point increase by the Fed. Meanwhile, there’s a roughly 10% probability of there being no hike.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 3.60%.
Oil prices faded 37 cents to $69.30 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved forward $6.70 to $1,947.80 U.S. an ounce.
