The S&P/TSX Composite advanced 70.61 points to kick off the midweek session at 20,975.89.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 77.92 cents U.S.
Miners were in the spotlight, with B2Gold up five cents to $5.59, and Barrick Gold down nine cents to $28.70.
Iamgold was down 95 cents, or 26.2%, to $2.67, the biggest percentage loser following its first quarterly report.
Loblaw fell $1.38, or 1.2%, to $112.64, after the retailer missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue, signaling that pandemic-led demand for groceries and drugs were waning from its peak.
National Bank cut the rating on Algonquin Power & Utilities to sector perform from outperform. Shares in Algonquin doffed 30 cents, or 1.7%, to $17.90.
National Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Kiwetinohk Energy with an outperform rating. Kitwetinohk shares acquired 25 cents, or 2.1%, to $12.13.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada told us this country's merchandise trade increased substantially in March, with both imports and exports reaching record highs. Imports increased 7.7%, while exports rose 6.3%.
As a result, Canada's merchandise trade surplus with the world narrowed from $3.1 billion in February to $2.5 billion in March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.79 points to 796.44
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with energy adding 1.8%, while materials and industrials each climbed 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, sagging 1.9%, consumer staples off 0.9%, and information technology stocks, settling 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s big interest rate decision, where the central bank is widely expected to hike rates by half a percentage point.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 26.43 points to 33,155.22.
The S&P 500 slid 14.2 points to 4,161.28.
The NASDAQ Composite plummeted 151.13 points, or 1.2%, to 12,412.63.
Markets are preparing for a hawkish Fed, and the central bank is also expected to announce a plan to cut its roughly $9-trillion balance sheet by $95 billion a month, beginning in June.
Respondents to the most recent survey indicated they expect the central bank to announce the long-anticipated 50-basis-point hike on Wednesday, followed by a second one in June as it looks to cut its balance sheet. The majority of respondents also expect a recession at the end of the tightening cycle.
Weakness in some major tech stocks were weighing on the NASDAQ on Wednesday. Shares of Amazon and Netflix fell more than 2% each, while Google-parent Alphabet was off by 1%.
Corporate earnings reports were leading to notable moves on Wednesday. Lyft plummeted 29% after the ridesharing company shared on Tuesday evening weak guidance for the current quarter as it expects to invest in driver supply. Rival Uber dropped 8%.
Elsewhere, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices also moved higher following its report, gaining about 6%, after beating estimates and delivering strong guidance. Casino stock Caesars Entertainment was under pressure after the company missed estimates on the top and bottom lines.
Airbnb rose 3.6% as the company expects a continued travel rebound, and Starbucks added 2.4% after topping revenue estimates.
Treasury prices gained only slightly, with yields falling to 3% from Tuesday’s 2.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices popped $3.68 to $106.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $6.30 to $1,864.30 U.S. an ounce.
