Equity markets in Toronto opened higher on Wednesday as a weaker U.S. dollar helped fuel gains in commodity prices, pushing up shares in the energy and gold-mining sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 33.45 points to open Wednesday at 15,114.71, after Tuesday’s hike of more than 120 points.
The Canadian dollar took on 0.07 cents to 80.01 cents U.S.
Senior engineers at Canada's energy regulator are under investigation by their professional association over their probe of alleged safety code violations at TransCanada Corp., Canada's second largest pipeline operator. TransCanada shares gained 46 cents to $56.30.
One top official said an unusually harsh winter is one of the reasons Canadian National Railway suffered a sharp increase in the number of train accidents in 2014. CN stock backtracked 20 cents to $85.36.
RBC raised the rating on Bombardier to outperform from sector perform. Bombardier shares inched higher six cents to $2.54.
Morgan Stanley raised the target price on Semafo to $5.00 from $4.75. Semafo shares ditched two cents to $4.02.
BMO cut the price target on Canadian Utilities to $41.50 from $42.50. Utilities shares were off 32 cents to $41.15.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 2.59 points to 676.79
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, energy leading the former camp, up 1.1%, while materials surged 1%, and gold shone 0.8% brighter.
The seven laggards were anchored mostly by health-care, ailing 0.9%, information technology, clicking 0.7%, and utilities, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Wednesday as investors continued to eye the timing of a rate hike and weigh the impact of the dollar on the coming earnings season
The Dow Jones Industrials retreated 17.18 points to 17,993.96, with Merck leading gains and Microsoft the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 lost 0.35 points to 2,091.15, with energy leading five sectors higher and information technology the greatest decliner.
The NASDAQ index demurred 27.08 points to 4,967.65.
Kraft Foods surged more than 30% to open at an all-time high following morning news that the firm will merge with Heinz to form Kraft Heinz, with Heinz shareholders owning 51% of the combined company and Kraft shareholders owning 49%. Kraft shareholders will also receive a special dividend of $16.50 U.S. per share.
Facebook kicks off its annual developer conference today, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg among the speakers. The conference will run for two days instead of one for the first time.
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission confirmed it is investigating the safety concerns raised about the Lumber Liquidators' flooring products in a recent "60 Minutes" segment.
PVH, Red Hat and Five Below post earnings after the bell.
The U.S. dollar edged about half a percentage point lower against major world currencies but still held onto gains of more than 7% year-to-date. Equities have tended to rise with a weaker dollar and decline with dollar gains.
February's durable goods orders fell 1.4%, missing expectations of a modest pick-up. The core non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft also fell 1.4% last month. The report marked the sixth straight month of declines, likely weighed down by the strong dollar and weak global demand.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries scooted lower, raising yields to 1.89% from Tuesday’s 1.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved ahead 70 cents to $48.21 U.S.
Gold prices moved higher by $5.90 to $1,197.30 U.S.
