Equities in Toronto on Wednesday, led by financial stocks, as investors grew more optimistic that Britons would vote to stay in the European Union.
The S&P/TSX Composite held onto gains of 22.46 points to greet noon at 14,034.78
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.03 cents to 77.98 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks shot higher, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals hiked 80 cents, or 2.9%, to $28.50.
Among industrials, Canadian Pacific Railway popped $4.41, or 2.8%, to $163.71.
Canada's heavyweight bank stocks were influential movers, as Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.4% to $56.58 and Royal Bank of Canada climbed by 0.5% to $79.02
Energy stocks were among those that dragged, retreating as oil turned lower after earlier rising above $50.00 a barrel. The overall energy group fell, including a 1.2% drop in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd to $38.38.
Weakening in energy stocks came after the Alberta Energy Regulator toughened rules determining if companies are financially strong enough to buy oil and gas assets, a move some energy industry players warned on Tuesday could hamper mergers and acquisition in the province.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost ground.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that retail sales in Canada rose 0.9% to $44.3 billion in April, after a decline of 0.8% in March. Sales were up in seven of 11 sub-sectors, representing 64% of total retail sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.63 points to 706.60
All but two of the 13 subgroups were on positive ground, led by health-care, up 1.4%, industrials, up 1.1%, and consumer staples, ahead 0.5%.
The two laggards proved to be energy, sagging 1.4%, and metals and mining, weaker by 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded slightly higher Wednesday, trying for a third-straight day of gains, as the U.K. vote on whether to leave the European Union approached.
The Dow Jones Industrials kept gains of 15.99 points to 17,845.72. Shares of McDonald's traded more than 1.5% lower as the greatest contributor to declines in the Dow. Nomura downgraded the stock to neutral from buy on expectations of weaker sales.
The S&P 500 gained 5.68 points at 2,093.98. Health-care briefly rose more than 1% to lead most S&P 500 sectors higher.
The NASDAQ climbed 17.36 points to 4,861.13.
Earlier, the tech-heavy NASDAQ struggled to hold opening gains as declines in shares of Amazon.com and Tesla weighed. Late Tuesday, Elon Musk's electric car manufacturer proposed to buy SolarCity for about $2.8 billion U.S. Musk is the controlling shareholder of the solar company and the CEO of Tesla.
In economic news Wednesday, existing home sales rose 1.8% in May to an annual rate of 5.53 million units, the highest level since February 2007.
The FHFA House Price Index rose 0.2% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in April from the previous month, while March's figure was upwardly revised to a 0.8% increase.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to continue her two-day congressional testimony with remarks to the House Financial Services Committee.
The EU referendum is scheduled for Thursday and the results are not expected until after the U.S. market close that day.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury moved slightly higher, lowering yields to Tuesday’s 1.7%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 71 cents a barrel to $49.11 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $1.70 to $1,270.80 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
