The TSX reduced its earlier gains mid-afternoon Wednesday after industrial shares moved further into the negative territory and info tech swung to losses.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 42.60 points – off its highs of the day -- to close at 14,947.51
The Canadian dollar lost 0.44 cents to 80.67 cents U.S.
Metals and mining stocks proved mightiest on Wednesday, as Major Drilling Group climbed 31 cents, or 5.1%, to $6.39, while Lundin Mining gained 19 cents, or 3.6%, to $5.49.
Telecoms were also strong, as Rogers Communications hiked 80 cents, or 1.9%, to $43.39, while TELUS Corporation popped 56 cents, or 1.3%, to $42.85.
Among industrials, Canadian Pacific Railways subsided $5.46, or 2.6%, to $201.52, while SNC-Lavalin Group faded $1.17, or 2.6%, to $43.94.
Intermap Technologies was the most actively traded stock, ditching eight cents, or 17.2%, to 38.5 cents, on 7.4 million shares.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reversed gears and fell 2.72 points to 680.48
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher, metals and mining up 1.6%, global base metals spiking 1.2%, and telecoms jumping 1.1%.
The three laggards were industrials, which sank 1%, while utilities and information technology swooned 0.2% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday as investors weighed the renewed impasse in the Greece debt talks and digested domestic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials slouched 178 points, or nearly 1%, to end the session at 17,966.07, with DuPont leading laggards and Apple the only advancer.
The S&P 500 index slumped 15.46 points to 2,108.74, with materials leading all 10 sectors lower.
The NASDAQ dropped 37.68 points from Tuesday’s record close to 5,122.41
After the close on Tuesday, Netflix announced a seven-for-one stock split, payable on July 14 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 2. Activist investor Carl Icahn announced on Wednesday he sold the last of his shares in the video streaming service. The stock ended about 0.4% lower after initially spiking more than 2% to a record high.
Apple closed up 0.9% after jumping more than 1.5% amid Icahn's remarks on CNBC that "Apple is where Netflix was a couple years ago."
In corporate news, Sysco's planned merger with U.S. Foods has been temporarily blocked by a judge for further review.
Kroger, SuperValu and other supermarket stocks are in focus after Dutch supermarket operator Ahold announced a deal to buy Belgium's Delhaize. Ahold operates the Stop&Shop and Giant chains in the United States, while Delhaize is the parent of Food Lion.
Tyson Foods andMcCormick hit all-time highs on Wednesday.
In U.S. economic news, the final read on first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data showed a decline of 0.2%, in-line with expectations and above a previous estimate of a 0.7% contraction.
The improved read supports the improving trend in more recent economic reports that indicate moderate growth in the second quarter. Better performance strengthens the Federal Reserve's case for raising short-term interest rates as early as September.
Encouragingly, consumer spending was revised up to 2.1% from the initial 1.8%.
The euro group meeting of regional financial ministers ended without a resolution, while talks are expected to resume on Thursday at 11:00 GMT (7:00 a.m. ET). The leaders did not strike an optimistic tone in their comments about the discussions.
Early on Wednesday, a Greek government official said that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told associates that creditors did not accepted Greece's proposed measures. Prior to the news, recent reports had indicated progress towards a resolution ahead of Greece's June 30 payment deadline to the International Monetary Fund.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained slightly, lowering yields to 2.38% from Tuesday’s 2.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subtracted 74 cents a barrel to $60.27 U.S.
Gold prices erased $3.20 at $1,173.40 U.S. an ounce.
