The Toronto stock market was higher Wednesday as commodity prices gained ground and traders looked ahead to another dose of economic stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX composite index was ahead 28.78 points to greet noon Wednesday at 12,311.14
The Canadian dollar poked ahead 0.07 cents to 101.47 cents U.S.
In the gold sector, Barrick Gold Corp. climbed 41 cents to $33.95 while Goldcorp Inc. improved by 42 cents to $37.
The utilities group was also supportive, as Just Energy Group ran ahead 56 cents to $9.89.
The TSX was also lifted by a gain in financials as TD Bank climbed 54 cents to $81.15.
The metals and mining sector gained while copper prices lost early momentum and the March contract on the Nymex was unchanged at $3.69 U.S. a pound. Turquoise Hill Resources was up 22 cents at $7.57.
The energy sector was off as after data showed an unexpected increase in crude supplies last week, along with a bigger-than-expected jump in gasoline inventories. Crude supplies rose by 800,000 barrels instead of an expected 2.5 million-barrel decline. Gasoline supplies climbed by five million barrels, about twice the amount forecast.
Cenovus Energy Inc. fell 92 cents to $33.01 after it said this year’s cash flow is now forecast to come in lower than previously anticipated. That is because of lower crude prices, longer than expected maintenance downtime at U.S. refineries and a one-time cash tax expense. Cash flow is expected to be $3.7 billion, missing the range of $3.9 billion to $4.1 billion Cenovus forecast in October.
The telecom sector was the leading decliner with BCE Inc. shares down 42 cents at $42.53 after subsidiary Bell Canada said it plans to make a $750-million payment toward its defined benefit pension plan to help improve its funded status. The pension plan's financing costs will benefit from the stronger position of the plan and therefore will help increase earnings by two cents per share starting next year.
In corporate news, Bill Gates has increased his overall stake in Canadian National Railway Co. to about 12%. Cascade Investment LLC, a company owned by the founder of tech giant Microsoft, has acquired an additional 13,670 CN shares for $1.25 million.
The investment company now owns a total of 43 million CN shares representing 10% of the company. Gates controls an additional 1.98% of CN stock through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable trust. CN shares were up 27 cents to $90.63.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell back 2.71 points to 1,181.22
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups reached midday higher. Information technology soared 1.1%, gold soared 1%, while materials advanced 0.7%
The three laggards were telecoms, down 0.5%, energy, slipping 0.4%, and health-care, 0.1% less robust.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were stuck in neutral Wednesday, as investors await news from the Federal Reserve about whether or not the central bank will be offering further stimulus for the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials was up 12.33 points to break for lunch Wednesday at 13,260.80
The S&P 500 grew 2.53 points to 1,430.37, while the Nasdaq Composite Index tailed off 1.33 points to 3,020.98
On the corporate front, Costco posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue for its fiscal first quarter.
DuPont shares gained ground after the chemical company announced a $1-billion U.S. share buyback program and updated its 2012 earnings guidance to the high end of its previous range.
Nasdaq announced plans to acquire three investing communications divisions from Thomson Reuters for $390 million U.S.
Shares of Berkshire Hathaway were briefly halted ahead of an announcement that Warren Buffett's firm bought 9,200 of its Class A shares for $131,000 U.S. apiece from the estate of a long-time shareholder.
As it wraps up its two-day meeting, the central bank will decide the fate of Operation Twist, a program that is set to end this month.
Fed officials are "universally expected" to expand the third round of its bond-buying program by adding Treasuries to its current monthly purchase of $40 billion U.S. in mortgage-backed securities when Operation Twist concludes Dec. 31
The Fed's policy announcement was due over the noon hour. The central bank's new economic forecasts are due later in the afternoon, while Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will take questions at a news conference at 2:15 pm ET.
During a morning press conference, House Speaker John Boehner and Republican members of Congress gave investors few reasons to be optimistic about bipartisan cooperation over the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Lawmakers must reach a compromise to avoid the tax increases and spending cuts that are set to kick in automatically on Jan. 1. Without a deal, many economists worry that the U.S. economy could fall back into a recession.
Treasury prices on the 10-year note regained lost ground, lowering the yield back to Tuesday’s 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices improved a dollar a barrel to $86.79 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $3.80 an ounce to $1,713.40 U.S.
