Canada's main stock index was little changed after touching a 10-month high on Wednesday as gains in commodity prices lifted shares of miners including gold producers Barrick Gold and Goldcorp.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell 15.77 points to greet noon at 14,349.84.
The Canadian dollar took on 0.25 cents to 78.76 cents U.S.
The TSX had earlier hit a session high of 14,450.91, its highest level since early August. The index has gained more than 6% in the last four weeks as oil has rebounded to $50.00 U.S. a barrel.
Shares of retailer Dollarama rose 1.7% to $94.20 after the company reported a bigger-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit.
Among gold miners, Goldcorp rose 2.3% to $23.61 and Barrick Gold climbed 3.3% to $24.83.
In energy plays, Shares of Suncor fell 2.7% to $35.50 to weigh on the sector after Raymond James cut its price target on the stock.
But the sector's declines were capped by a gain in oil prices as supply disruptions sent U.S. crude prices up 1.6% to $51.14 a barrel.
On the downside, shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International lost 3.5% to $30.38 the day after the company slashed its 2016 outlook.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that building permits issued by municipalities edged down 0.3% to $6.9 billion in April.
This marked the second consecutive monthly decline and was largely the result of lower construction intentions in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 188,570 units last month from a downwardly revised 191,388 in April. May's figure was short of economists' expectations for 190,000.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 11.36 points, or 1.6%, to 712.40
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups were negative, as energy doffed 1.4%, while health-care and telecoms each shed 1%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by metals and mining, moving up 4.5%, gold, up 3.1%, and materials, better by 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher Wednesday, helped by gains in oil prices, with the Dow and S&P about 1% below their 52-week intraday highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 54.85 points to 17,993.13, with UnitedHealth contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 gained 5.72 points at 2,117.85, with industrials leading six sectors higher and telecommunications the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ regained 13.34 points to 4,975.09, though declines in Apple, Microsoft and Netflix kept gains in check.
Energy Information Agency data showed a draw of 3.2 million barrels in crude and builds in gasoline and distillate inventories, Dow Jones reported. Late Tuesday, API reported a larger-than-expected U.S. crude stockpile draw
In economic news, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed there were about 5.8 million job openings at the end of April.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rose slightly, lowering yields to 1.7% from Tuesday’s 1.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tacked on 78 cents a barrel to $51.14 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $16.80 to $1,263.80 U.S. an ounce.
