The rally on Canada’s main stock index cooled somewhat as noon approached on Wednesday, even as gold miners advanced on a bullion price recovery while energy stocks weighed with a fall in oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite subsided 51.29 points to greet noon at 14,426.38
The Canadian dollar regained 0.44 cents to 77.12 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Barrick Gold, up 3.5% to $27.83, Goldcorp Inc which rose 2.5% to $26.02, and Agnico Eagle Mining, which added 4.2% to $73.74.
On the other side of the ledger, Canadian Tire Corp Ltd shares fell 3% to $139.90 after the retailer reappointed Stephen Wetmore as CEO more than 18 months after he left the top job.
Corus Entertainment Inc shed 8.1% to $12.58 after reporting lower-than-expected quarterly adjusted profit.
The heavyweight energy group retreated, with Canadian Natural Resources down 1.1% to $40.95, Suncor Energy off 0.8% to $36.95, and pipeline operator Enbridge slipping 0.3% to $55.33.
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.5% on Wednesday, the same level at which it has been since last summer.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 4.56 points to 754.15
All but three of the 13 subgroups were lower by noon hour, with energy tailing off 2.3%, while health-care and real-estate each moved downward 0.9%.
The three gainers were gold, hiking 1.5%, materials, better by 1%, and consumer staples, progressing 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range Wednesday as indexes faltered from record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 5.67 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 18,342, with Microsoft leading advancers and Home Depot the top decliner.
The S&P 500 fell 2.33 points to 2,149.81, with energy leading five sectors lower and utilities the biggest advancer.
The NASDAQ Composite Index settled 9.24 points to 5,013.58
Economically speaking, U.S. import prices for June rose 0.2%, missing estimates, while export prices gained 0.8%.
The Federal Reserve will release its latest edition of the Beige Book at 2 p.m.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 1.48% from Tuesday’s 1.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved lower $1.75 a barrel to $45.05 U.S.
Gold prices jumped $7.60 to $1,342.90 U.S. an ounce.
