Equities in Canada’s largest market continued to fall, weighed mostly by health-care and materials stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rallied toward the breakeven mark, falling short just 16.39 points, to end Wednesday at 15,164.37
The Canadian dollar gained 0.17 cents at 78.31 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks took the biggest drops, as Aurora Cannabis lost 38 cents, or 4.7%, to $7.69, while Canopy Growth dipped 11 cents to $27.88
One of the biggest decliners was First Quantum Minerals, down 34 cents, or 1.9%, to $17.92. Agnico Eagle Mines plunged 81 cents, or 1.5%, to $53.34
Among gold concerns, Golden Star Resources lost a penny, or 1.4%, to 73 cents, while Osisko Gold Royalties lost 52 cents, or 4.1%, to $12.04.
Telecoms tried to pick the slack, however, with BCE improving 42 cents to $54.84, and Shaw Communications gained 21 cents to $24.54.
Consumer staples issues also landed in positive territory, with Saputo climbing 93 cents, or 2.4%, to $40.31, and Loblaw Companies gaining 32 cents to $64.58.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 5.52 points to 763.78
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, with health-care losing 1.5%, while materials gave back 0.8%, and gold sank 0.6%
The four gainers were led by telecoms and consumer staples, each up 0.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks up 0.7%
ON WALLSTREET
After a wild session on Wednesday, stocks closed sharply higher as Wall Street erased massive losses earlier that came after China's announcement of new tariffs on U.S. goods sparked fears of a trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average thundered into positive territory 230.94 points, or nearly 1%, to 24,264.3, rallying 741 points from its session low. Microsoft and IBM were the best-performing stocks in the index.
The S&P 500 powered up 30.24 points, or 1.2%, to 2,644.69, erasing a 1.6% decline, led by gains in consumer stocks. The broad index also closed back above its 200-day moving average, a key technical level.
The NASDAQ Composite index leaped 100.82 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 7,042.11, after plunging as much as 1.9%
Apple helped lead the comeback in the market, rising 1.9%. Chip stocks also rebounded, with Micron climbing 3.6% and Advanced Micro Devices picking up 2.3%.
Automakers Ford rose 1.6%, and General Motors gained 3%, after falling sharply earlier on Wednesday. But Boeing — a company that can be adversely impacted by a trade war — closed 1% lower. Deere also pulled back 2.9%
The major averages hit their session highs after Bloomberg reported President Donald Trump may soften on a key negotiation point for the North American Free Trade Agreement
China's Ministry of Commerce said the tariffs are designed to target up to $50 billion in U.S. products annually and would hit goods like soybeans and cars.
In economic news, the ADP National Employment Report showed private companies added 241,000 jobs in March, more than the expected gain of 205,000.
The services purchasing managers' index slipped to 54.0 in March from 55.9 in February. Meanwhile the non-manufacturing Institute for Supply Management index came in at 58.8 for last month, missing expectations.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost ground, raising yields to 2.80% from Tuesday’s 2.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked up three cents a barrel to $63.54 U.S.
Gold prices docked 10 cents to $1,337.20 U.S. an ounce.
