The Toronto stock market touched its highest in nearly six years on Wednesday as positive U.S. economic data supported market sentiment and shares of gold miners jumped with the price of bullion.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Wednesday up 78.56 points to 14,459.11.
The Canadian dollar subtracted 0.04 cents at 90.64 cents U.S.
Shares of gold producers jumped, with Barrick Gold rising 4.5% to $20.62 and Goldcorp gaining 2.4% to $27.73.
Despite weakness in oil prices, shares of energy companies advanced. Suncor Energy Inc climbed 1.5% to $39.18, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd added 1.6% to $43.12.
In corporate news, Yamana Gold Inc planned to buy a 50% stake in Osisko Mining’s mining and exploration assets for $930 million in a move to block a hostile bid from Goldcorp. Osisko shares jumped 6.8% to $7.35, and Yamana dropped 2.1% to $9.51.
Agrium Inc said that a big backlog of grain shipments on Canada's railways and a late start to spring planting will hurt its first-quarter profits. Shares of the fertilizer company gave back 1.4% to $106.08.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 5.36 points to 1,006.29
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive on the day, as gold triumphed 3.1%, materials were 1.7% stronger and information technology clicked 1.4% higher.
The two laggards were telecoms, down 0.7%, and health-care, scaling back 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was in record closing territory, even if some early investor enthusiasm faded.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40.39 points to 16,573. The S&P 500 gained 5.38 to another all-time high of 1,890.90. The NASDAQ inched up 8.42 points to 4,276.46
Pharmaceutical firm Mannkind was the hottest stock of the morning. Its shares more than doubled after the company said its inhaled diabetes drug Afrezza was given the approval nod by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee. The FDA is expected to make its final decision on Afrezza in mid-April.
An FDA approval continued to power the stock of Intuitive Surgical today. Shares were up 4%, after jumping 13% on Tuesday after news that the FDA had cleared the latest version of the company's surgical robot system for wider use.
GM remained in focus again today as CEO Mary Barra returned to Capitol Hill to answer legislators' questions regarding the automaker's botched ignition switch recall. Despite all the negative publicity, GM reported sales Tuesday that topped analysts' expectations.
Amazon.com shares are lower despite unveiling its Amazon fire TV device that enables televisions to access programming from its Amazon Prime subscription service. Amazon joins competitors like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Roku that want to replace set top boxes from cable and satellite companies that sit in your living room.
Shares of Sears Holdings edged higher as investors are apparently optimistic about Friday's expected spinoff of its Lands' End clothing business. Sears bought the company in 2002 for $2 billion U.S.
BlackBerry shares are up following news that T-Mobile will no longer sell BlackBerry phones after April 25. BlackBerry owners who use T-Mobile will still be able to use their phones and get product support even after the deadline, but the contract between the two companies won't be renewed according to BlackBerry.
The Rubicon Project began trading today up 33%. The online advertising service provider priced its initial public offering last night at $15 U.S. a share, on the lower end of expectations.
One stock taking a beating is Apollo Education Group, down 3%. The online learning company which owns and operates University of Phoenix, reporting lower-than-expected quarterly revenue
Investors appeared cautious after yesterday's gains as their attention starts to focus on Friday's much anticipated March unemployment report.
This morning's ADP employment report, viewed as a bellwether of the big report on Friday, showed a gain of 191,000 private sector jobs last month -- slightly below expectations. February's ADP number was also revised to show a gain of 178,000 from an initial reading of 139,000.
What’s more, factory orders for February also came in better than expected at 1.6% growth for the month.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were down, raising yields to 2.80% from Tuesday’s 2.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 30 cents to $99.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices remained positive $9.30 to $1,290.30 U.S. an ounce.
