Equities in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Wednesday in broad-based gains, after coming under pressure in the previous session despite crossing the 30,000-mark to post a fresh intraday high.
The TSX Composite Index leaped 139.35 points to open the midweek session at 29,954.98.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.08 cents to 72.25 cents U.S.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had "constructive" trade talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang with both countries seeking to discuss trade conflicts.
Canada has imposed tariffs on imports of China-made electric vehicles and steel and aluminum since last year, with Beijing retaliating with levies on Canadian canola imports.
Separately, Carney said trade negotiations with the U.S. were ongoing, with remaining issues to move to a forthcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Meanwhile, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem expressed concern on Tuesday about U.S. President Donald Trump's pressure tactics on the U.S. Federal Reserve.
In company news, Manulife Financial Corp's wealth and asset management arm said it had signed an agreement to buy U.K. asset manager Schroders' business in Indonesia.
Manulife shares poked up four cents to $43.06.
The Trump administration is seeking an equity stake of as much as 10% in Lithium Americas, two people told Reuters. American-listed shares of the company climbed $3.88, or 92%, to $8.10 in early trading.
Bank of Montreal launched a process to sell some of its U.S. branches with about $6 billion in deposits, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. BMO traded down 29 cents in the first hour to $180.48.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 4.83 points early Wednesday to 917.68.
Seven of the 12 subgroups began the session higher, led by energy, surging 1.6%, information technology, better by 0.9%, and materials, ahead 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Wednesday as artificial intelligence giants Nvidia and Oracle came under pressure for a second day.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 54.09 points to 46,346.87.
The much-broader index dropped 1.22 points to 6,655.70.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ slipped 4.54 points to 22,568.94.
Nvidia seesawed during the session as it attempted to recover some of its declines from Tuesday, a day that was dominated by heightened fears about the circular nature of the AI industry. That had been sparked by a partnership between the chipmaker and OpenAI.
Nvidia, along with fellow leading AI player Oracle, tumbled Tuesday on worries the advance was running out of steam with the outlook already priced into the shares.
Oracle extended its recent losses Wednesday after the company said it’s looking to raise funds from a corporate bonds sale. Additionally, shares of Micron Technology moved lower by almost 2% as the company’s earnings and forecast weren’t strong enough to impress investors, signaling that confidence in the AI trade is still in question.
Prices for 10-year Treasury sagged Wednesday, lowering yields to 4.14% from Tuesday’s 4.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices progressed 97 cents to $64.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $17.80 to $3,797.90 U.S. an ounce.
