Equity markets in Canada’s largest centre approached an all-time high on Wednesday, led by gains for heavyweight financial and energy stocks as global stocks climbed, while lower gold prices weighed on gold mining shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 29.09 points to greet noon at 15,639.78
The Canadian dollar muscled up 0.46 cents at 76.48 cents U.S.
The most influential gainers on the index included some of its biggest banks and insurers, with Royal Bank of Canada up 0.8% to $94.16 and Manulife Financial advancing 1.4% to $25.35.
TransCanada Corp rose 1.3% to $65.05, adding to an all-time high the stock hit on Tuesday, when U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order putting its Keystone XL pipeline back into play.
Shares in Canadian National Railway dipped 1.4% to $92.46, as the country's largest railway company reported earnings that beat expectations but pointed to moderate volume growth in 2017.
Barrick Gold, which said its gold and copper production fell in 2016, declined 1.3% to $23.54.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange scaled back 7.04 points to 799.70
Seven of the 12 subgroups were higher on the day, with financials ahead 0.8%, health-care, up 0.7%, and information technology clicking 0.6% higher.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 2.3%, materials, sliding 1.4%, and telecoms, off 0.3%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities rose to all-time highs on Wednesday after a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump increased bullish sentiment on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 136.93 points to 20,049.64, breaking above 20,000 for the first time, as Boeing, Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar contributed the most gains.
The S&P 500 grew 13.86 points from Tuesday`s all-time high to 2,293.93, to a new all-time high, with financials and health-care leading advancers.
The NASDAQ composite index took on 41.43 points from Tuesday`s all-time high to 5,642.39, also achieving a new high.
Investors also paid attention to a series of corporate quarterly results, as Dow components Boeing posted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations. United Technologies, another Dow component, posted profit and sales figures that largely met analyst expectations.
AT&T, eBay,Qualcomm, F5 Networks, Las Vegas Sands, Vertex Pharma and Western Digital are among the major companies all due to report after the market close.
In economic news, the FHFA House Price index rose 0.5% in November. Mortgage rates, meanwhile, rose 4% last week.
Trump was expected to roll out executive orders on immigration on Wednesday, starting with steps to tighten border security, including his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell raising yields to 2.51% from Tuesday’s 2.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices poked ahead eight cents to $53.20 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slouched $11.70 to $1,199.10 U.S. an ounce.
