Stocks in Canada’s premier market pulled narrowly ahead of Tuesday’s close at Wednesday’s final bell, as strength in health-care issues and gold overrode losses in the financial field.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 11.49 points to close the day at 14,231.06
The Canadian dollar moved positive 0.11 cents to 77.13 cents U.S.
In the health-care sector, the redoubtable Valeant Pharmaceuticals jumped $3.83, or 14.7%, to $29.82, even though rival Concordia International took something of a pasting, losing $1.39, or 5.1%, in price to close at $25.95.
Gold stocks also enjoyed themselves, as Barrick Gold triumphed 91 cents, or 3.1%, to $30.03, while Eldorado Gold accelerated 21 cents, or 3.3%, to $6.55.
On the other side of the fence, financials felt around for the bruises, as Manulife Financial suffered 29 cents, or 1.7%, to $16.86, while TD Bank dipped $1.17, or 2.1%, to $54.83.
In the tech field, BlackBerry gave back six cents to $8.45.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers slid nine cents to $43.93.
On the economic agenda, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's exports fell 0.7% to $41.1 billion in May, while imports eased 0.8% to $44.4 billion. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world in May was virtually unchanged from April at $3.3 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 7.56 points to 757.65
Seven of the 13 subgroups were higher on the day, with health-care haler by 3.9%, gold shining 2.7% brighter, and materials up 1.5%
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by financials, sagging 0.7%, while information technology and consumer discretionary stocks each slumped 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities south of the border closed higher Wednesday, helped by rising oil prices and after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its June meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials climbed 78 points to 17,918.62, with Home Depot and UnitedHealth having the greatest positive impact, while Boeing, DuPont and 3M were lower
Among Dow transport stocks, Norfolk Southern led advancers, while American Airlines was the greatest decliner.
The S&P 500 leaped 11.18 points to 2,099.73, with health-care leading seven sectors higher and telecommunications the biggest laggard.
The NASDAQ Composite Index improved 36.26 points to 4,859.16, as shares of Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple and Alphabet moved up the charts.
Economically speaking, the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in May to $41.1 billion from $37.4 billion the prior month.
Elsewhere, the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index came in at 56.5 for June versus 52.9 in May.
Earlier, Markit's U.S. services PMI showed marginal expansion at 51.4 in June, up fractionally from 51.3 in May.
The Fed meeting minutes released in the afternoon showed policymakers said it was prudent to wait for more data and the Brexit vote result before raising rates.
The minutes showed policy members cited a slowdown in hiring as a reason to keep rates unchanged at the meeting last month.
The non-farm payrolls report due Friday is the key data for the week.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury recovered some strength, lowering yields to 1.37% from Tuesday’s 1.38%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 82 cents a barrel to $47.42 U.S.
Gold prices moved higher $7.20 to $1,365.90 U.S. an ounce.
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