Canada's main stock index ?rose on Wednesday, with mining stocks leading the recovery, while investors assessed the impact of elevated bond yields and the Bank of Canada's decision to hold interest rates steady.
The TSX gained 155.22 points to greet noon 35,940.95.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.27 cents to 72.24 cents.
Miners gained, tracking an uptick in gold and silver prices, with ?Endeavour Silver up 71 cents, or 5% to $14.95, Kinross Gold gaining 76 cents, or 1.9%, to $41.58, and Barrick ?Gold adding $1.05, or 1.8%, to $60.94.
Consumer ?discretionary shares bounced back from two sessions of declines, aided by a rise of $1.68, or 2.4%, in shares of sportswear retailer Gildan Activewear to $71.31.
Iran and its Arab neighbours were plunged back into war as U.S. forces hit Iran's southern coast and Iran struck at American bases across the region.
However, oil prices were little changed after hitting one-month highs earlier in the session
Against this backdrop, comments from policymakers at the Bank of Canada will be closely watched following their interest-rate decision, which revealed the rate stayed put at 2.25%.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party won three special elections on Tuesday, maintaining his slim majority in Parliament at a time of worsening U.S. trade ties.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was in the green 3.63 points to 960.29.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split, with gold going higher 1.6%, materials gaining 1.7%, and consumer discretionary stocks, up 1.3%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology stocks, slumping 1.1%, while energy and consumer staples each shed 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Wednesday as U.S. Treasury yields took a breather from the recent run-up that sent them to multi-year highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials reasserted themselves 294.52 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 53,061.40, boosted by a rise in shares of health-care stocks such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Amgen.
The S&P 500 regained 46.42 points to 7,677.89.
The NASDAQ Composite popped $133.90 points to 26,233.67.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield hit a high of 4.814% on the day, a level not seen since November 2023. Yields in the U.K., Germany and France also rose. In Japan, the 10-year government yield traded around multi-decade highs.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC Wednesday that more than 17 million barrels of oil moved through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. That’s the highest level since the Iran war broke out in February.
The moves higher in oil come as the U.S. launched more military strikes on Iran, raising concern that the conflict could escalate once more.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 4.8% from Tuesday’s 4.79%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 50 cents to $90.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $19.80 to $4,416.20 U.S. an ounce.
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