Canada's main stock index moved higher on Wednesday, helped by gains for heavily-weighted financial shares and Enbridge after the company said it would sell natural gas assets.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index forged ahead 41.58 points to greet Wednesday’s noon hour at 16,304.74
The Canadian dollar inched down 0.02 cents at 76.06 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks led the surge, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals up 66 cents, or 2.2%, to $30.77, while Concordia International took on a penny to 27 cents.
In the tech field, BlackBerry gained a nickel to $12.99, while Shopify popped $4.93, or 2.5%, to $202.78.
Utilities also charged into positive country, with Fortis Inc. gained 10 cents to $42.21.
Energy shares rose even as oil prices pared some recent gains.
Shares of Enbridge rose 89 cents, or 1.9%, to $47.28. The company would sell its western Canadian natural gas gathering and processing business to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP and its institutional partners for an enterprise value of about $4.31 billion.
Brookfield Infrastructure shares improved a dollar, or 2%, to $51.40
Kinder Morgan Canada said in a filing on Tuesday it is restarting construction in August on the Trans Mountain pipeline's expansion after halting work in the spring due to opposition from environmentalists and other groups as Canada prepares to buy the project in a bid to boost country's oil exports.
The company's shares dipped five cents to $15.84.
Financials, which account for about one-third of the weight of the TSX, rose, helped by a 33-cent gain for Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to $52.90.
Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume were Bombardier Inc, down eight cents, or 1.6%, to $4.99, and Nemaska Lithium, down a penny, or 1.1%, to 88 cents.
Oil prices regained six cents to $74.20 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices strengthened $4.30 to $1,257.80 U.S. an ounce.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 1.95 points to Wednesday to 738.62
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups changed direction and moved into positive territory midday, with health-care sprinting 0.8%, information technology up 0.7%, and utilities better by 0.4%.
The lone laggard was in consumer discretionary, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets in the U.S. are closed for the Fourth of July holiday
