Equities in Canada’s largest market rose a third day, helped for a second session by comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that eased anxiety about potential interest rate hikes.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 77.75 to close Wednesday at 13,503.98.
The index is on track for a second straight month of gains, something it hasn’t accomplished since February 2015.
The Canadian dollar spiked 0.7 cents to 77.18 cents U.S.
In the world of consumer staples, Metro grew in price $1.29, or 3%, to $44.75, while Alimentation Couche-Tard picked up 31 cents to $57.89.
Among industrials, Bombardier crept up a penny to $1.32, while Canadian Pacific Railway climbed $2.44, or 1.4%, to $173.75.
Gold stocks struck a sour note, as Barrick Gold lost 54 cents, or 2.9%, to $17.82, while Goldcorp stepped back 22 cents, or 1%, to $21.26.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 0.33 points to 576.88
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive on the day, as consumer staples gained 1.6%, industrials strengthened 1.2%, and consumer discretionaries picked up 1.1%.
The two laggards were gold, down 2.2%, and materials, off 1.1%
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the States came off their day-long highs but still finished higher Wednesday, with tech and financial stocks leading, as equities extended Tuesday afternoon's gains following Fed Chair Janet Yellen's cautious stance on the path of tightening.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained positive 83.55 points to close at 17,716.66, with Visa leading advancers and Boeing the greatest decliner. The plane maker announced it was cutting 4,000 jobs effective later this year.
The S&P 500 moved up 10.97 points to 2,065.98. Financials and information technology led advancers in the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ index gained 22.67 points to 4,869.29.
Traders also attributed some of Wednesday's price action to end of quarter flows. The S&P 500 and Dow are on pace for quarterly gains of more than 1%, with the Dow tracking for its biggest quarterly comeback since 1933. The NASDAQ is more than 2.5% lower for the quarter so far
Apple traded $2.04, or 1.9%, higher, building on Tuesday's rally and closing at $109.72 U.S. Cowen upgraded the stock on Wednesday to outperform from market perform and raised the price target to $135.00 U.S., based on expectations that year-over-year comparable sales and forward estimates have bottomed.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 1.83% from Tuesday’s 1.9%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were positive but five cents a barrel to $38.33 U.S.
Gold prices faded $16.87 to $1,225.33 U.S. an ounce.
