Equity markets in Toronto moved positive by the close Wednesday, as gains in health-care and gold issues, overcame a decline in the energy sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 69.37 points to conclude Wednesday at 14,618.97
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.02 cents to 75.42 cents U.S.
Among health-care concerns, the biggest winner on the day, Medical Facilities Corporation advancing nine cents to $22.65.
Gold also proved stronger, as Goldcorp popped 51 cents, or 2.8%, to $19.04, and larger rival Barrick Gold growing 47 cents, or 2.3%, to $21.02.
Among materials, Teck Resources climbed 47 cents, or 1.9%, to $24.74
Energy stocks didn’t fare so well, though, as Precision Drilling went south 28 cents a share, or 4.4%, to $6.03, and Crescent Point Energy handed back 60 cents, or 3.4%, to $17.31.
Among tech stocks, Firan Technology lost three cents, or 1%, to $2.98, while BlackBerry retreated nine cents to $10.06.
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 2.12 points to 770.55.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups kept their gains all day, with health-care galloping 3.6%, gold soaring 2.6%, and materials better by 1.9%.
The two laggards were energy, down 0.8%, and information technology, off 0.1%.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. stocks steadied Wednesday, closing narrowly mixed after the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes seemed to confirm previous expectations for a possible December rate hike.
The Dow Jones Industrials finished higher 15.96 points to 18,144.62, with Nike leading advancers and Cisco Systems leading decliners.
The S&P 500 gained 2.44 points to 2,139.17, with real estate rising 1.3% as the top advancer, followed by utilities. Financials held slight gains of 0.2%.
The NASDAQ Composite retreated 7.77 points to 5,239.02, weighed by declines in Cisco and Biogen. Apple briefly rose more than 1% and was on track for its first seven-day win streak since the one ended in February 2015.
The minutes showed Fed officials in favour of hiking interest rates worry that waiting too long could send the country into recession.
Investors also kept a watch on quarterly corporate reports, as earnings season kicked off Tuesday with Alcoa posting weaker-than-expected results.
Railroad giant CSX is expected to report quarterly results Wednesday after the bell.
In economic news, mortgage applications fell 6% last week as rising rates weighed. The August job openings and labour turnover survey (JOLTS for short), also released Wednesday, showed the number of job opening falling to 5.4 million.
The Treasury Department sold $24 billion in three-year notes, an auction which saw the highest yield since January. The department is also scheduled to sell $20 billion in 10-year notes at 1 p.m. ET.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury got back some lost strength, lowering yields to 1.77% from Tuesday’s 1.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 52 cents to $50.27 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices moved up 30 cents to $1,256.20 U.S. an ounce.
