Equities rallied Wednesday mostly on strength of health-care and tech issues
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its highs of the day, but still gained 50.43 points to conclude Wednesday at 15,133.13
The Canadian dollar tumbled 0.7 cents to 79.23 cents U.S.
Prometic Life Sciences jumped another 11 cents, or 7.3% to $1.70, extending its previous session’s 25% surge after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the company a rare pediatric disease designation for its plasminogen replacement therapy. National Bank raised its price target on the company after the news.
Elsewhere in the health-care field, Valeant Pharmaceuticals gained six cents to $16.64.
BlackBerry took on a dime to $11.42, among the preeminent tech stocks to rise Wednesday, while Constellation Software gained 53 cents to $683.58.
CAE Inc, which provides training for the aviation, defense and health-care industries, rallied 70 cents, or 3.5% to $20.68 after Bank of Montreal raised its rating on the company to outperform from market perform.
Another industrial giant, Canadian National Railways, climbed $1.24, or 1.3%, to $100.70.
On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $974 in June, little changed from the previous month, but up 1.8% compared with 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 4.08 points to 772.92
All 12 TSX subgroups gained ground, most notably health-care, up 1.8%, information technology, ahead 1.4%, and industrials, stronger by 1.2%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday as the technology sector climbed higher.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 27.06 points to finish Wednesday at 21,892.43, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to the gains.
The S&P 500 tacked on 11.29 points to 2,457.59, with information technology leading eight sectors higher. The S&P posted a four-day winning streak, its longest since late May.
The NASDAQ improved 66.42 points, or 1.1%, to 6,368.31, and notched a three-day winning streak. Lifting the index higher were shares of Netflix, which advanced more than 3% after analysts at Bernstein said that Disney pulling its content from the platform wouldn't hinder Netflix's stock performance.
Shares of Apple also contributed to the NASDAQ's gains, rising 0.2% to hit a record high earlier in the session.
Other major stocks in the sector also rose, including Facebook and Google-parent Alphabet. Tech is by far the best-performing sector this year, advancing more than 20%.
Investors also digested a slew of economic data. The ADP National Employment report showed private-sector jobs increased by 237,000 jobs in August, well above the expected 185,000. The ADP report is often used by traders as a preview to the government's monthly jobs report, which is set for release on Friday.
Meanwhile, the second estimate for gross domestic product data in the second quarter showed the U.S. economy grew by 3%, more than the expected increase of 2.7%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sagged a bit, raising yields to 2.14% from Tuesday’s 2.13%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 49 cents to $45.95 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices eased back $5.20 to $1,313.70 U.S. an ounce.
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