Equities in Canada’s largest market maintained a solid, if unspectacular, string of winning sessions Wednesday, with more small gains, mostly on the back of industrial giants such as SNC-Lavalin.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 12.93 points to close Wednesday at 15,305.89
The Canadian dollar was virtually unchanged at 74.6 cents U.S.
SNC-Lavalin rose $1.40, or 2.5%, to $58.52, as its subsidiary is part of a joint venture that won a five-year deal to supply engineering and procurement services to an unnamed "prominent integrated oil company" in the Athabasca region in Alberta.
Bombardier collected three cents, or 1.5%, to $2.08.
In the utilities field, Fortis Inc. picked up eight cents to $40.58, while Hydro One gained eight cents to $23.50.
Health-care stocks took their lumps, however, as Canopy Growth fell 36 cents, or 3.9%, to $8.89, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals got roughed up 61 cents, or 3.1%, to $19.02.
BlackBerry Ltd fell 24 cents, or 2.4%, to $9.78, extending losses after reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings and raising its full-year growth forecast, as doubts about its long-term growth outlook weighed.
Constellation Software fell three dollars to $611.21
Among materials, Teck Resources settled back 55 cents, or 1.9%, to $28.24, while First Quantum Minerals lost four cents to $14.40.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings among Canadians were $954.00 in October, down 0.1% from the previous month and unchanged from 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange finally broke out of its funk, gaining 1.62 points to 718.49
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with industrials sprinting 0.7%, real-estate up 0.5%, and utilities advancing 0.4%.
The four laggards were weighed by health-care, sinking 1.1%, information technology, backing off 0.5%, and materials, dipping 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities fell slightly on Wednesday, with real-estate lagging, as the Dow Jones industrial average failed to reach 20,000.
The Dow backed away from Tuesday’s record highs, docking 32.66 points to 19,941.96, with Merck leading decliners and Nike the biggest riser.
The S&P 500 lost 5.58 points to 2,265.18, with real-estate leading six sectors lower and energy the top advancer. Since the Nov. 8 presidential election, the index has risen around 6%.
The NASDAQ composite index subtracted 12.51 points to 5,471.13
In corporate news, Twitter's CTO Adam Messinger announced he is leaving the company after five years. Meanwhile, Amazon was hit by a strike at its German warehouses in a dispute over pay and working conditions. The strike is scheduled to run until Dec. 24.
The only major economic data due Wednesday were existing home sales for November, which hit 5.61 million units, and weekly mortgage applications, which rose 2.5%.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note inched forward, lowering yields to 2.54% from Tuesday’s 2.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices shed 79 cents to $52.51 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dropped 80 cents to $1,132.80 U.S. an ounce.
