Canada's main stock index extended a rally into a fifth session on Wednesday as Manulife Financial Corp led major financial stocks higher after signing an Asian distribution deal, while consumer names also rose.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 29.12 points to greet noon at 15,217.96
The Canadian dollar faded 0.01 cents to 79.94 cents U.S.
Manulife shares gained 1.6% to $21.89 after the Canadian insurer signed a deal to pay $1.2 billion to Singapore's DBS Group Holdings for a 15-year partnership to sell products through DBS's Asian branch network.
Sun Life Financial Inc also gained, up 1% at $39.80, while some of the index's big banks contributed to the overall rise, with Royal Bank of Canada up 0.4% at $78.15.
With Saudi Arabia reporting record output and U.S. supply surging, oil fell back from close to its 2015 highs, taking some of Canada's biggest energy names down with it.
Canadian Natural Resources lost 1.9% to $40.23, Crescent Point Energy fell 3.2% to $30.31, and Cenovus Energy gave up 2.3% to $21.88.
In the consumer groups, car parts maker Magna International gained 0.7% to $67.21 and supermarket chain Loblaw added 0.8% to $65.14.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped into negative territory by 1.26 points to 688.31
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, with health-care 1.8% haler, metals and mining stronger by 1.7%, and global base metals better by 1.2%
The three laggards were energy, sliding 1.6%, gold, fading 1.1%, and materials worse off by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mildly higher on Wednesday as investors digested energy sector news and awaited the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its highs of the morning, but were still positive 34.80 points to break for noon hour at 17,910.22, with Visa leading gains and Chevron and Exxon Mobil the greatest laggards.
The S&P 500 index gained 6.35 points to 2,082.68, with consumer discretionary leading six sectors higher and telecommunications leading laggards.
The NASDAQ index regained 37.33 points to 4,947.57
Family Dollar reported earnings that missed on both the top and bottom lines.
Alcoa kicks off corporate earnings season, with its first ports. Earnings season gets into full swing next week when major banks and technology companies report.
The initial Apple Watch reviews came out mostly positive on Wednesday morning.
Tesla announced an upgrade of its flagship Model S, featuring a larger battery pack and all-wheel drive.
Walt Disney and IMAX have renewed their movie exhibition deal, covering releases from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm.
European energy stocks surged following news that Royal Dutch Shell will buy BG Group for $70 billion U.S. in cash and stock in the first major oil company takeover deal since Chevron bought Texaco for $36 billion U.S. in 2000.
The key report for the day is the 2:00 p.m. ET publication of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes of the March meeting, when the Fed dropped "patient" from its statement as an indication it is setting up for normalization of monetary policy. However, the overall tone of the minutes is expected to remain dovish.
Total mortgage application volume rose 0.4% week-to-week on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending April 3, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The move was driven entirely by a 7% surge in applications by homebuyers
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dropped, raising yields to 1.92% from Tuesday’s 1.89%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $2.44 to $51.54 U.S.
Gold prices fell $6.80 to $1,203.80 U.S.
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