Equities in Canada’s largest market edged higher at open on Wednesday as gains in tech companies offset losses in materials stocks, ahead of a widely expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 20.63 points to begin Wednesday trading at 16,180.13
The Canadian dollar inched downward 0.05 cents to 77.14 cents.
A potentially "catastrophic" incident involving an Air Canada passenger jet that overflew other aircraft at close range on a San Francisco International Airport taxiway was the result of crew errors, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.
Air Canada shares flew 24 cents to $27.73.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Aurora Cannabis to $13.00 from $11.00.
Aurora shares retreated 15 cents, or 1.2%, to $12.62
CIBC cut the target price on DHX Media to $2.00 from $3.00. DHX shares acquired five cents, or 3.3%, to $1.55.
Consumer staples stocks also got some traction, Loblaw Companies picking up 28 cents to $66.97, while Metro gained 35 cents to $41.19.
Among telecoms, BCE acquired 42 cents to $52.41, while Shaw Communications was positive 14 cents to $25.12.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.67 points to 710.35
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher, with consumer staples, telecoms and consumer discretionary each up 0.6%.
The three laggards were gold, down 1.6%, materials, off 1.1%, and health-care, sliding 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose slightly on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest decision on U.S. monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved into positive territory 18.19 points to begin Wednesday at 26,510.40, led by gains in IBM.
The S&P 500 picked up 1.12 points to 2,916.43, as communication services outperformed.
The NASDAQ added 4.04 points to 8,011.51, as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all rose.
IBM shares rose 2.5% after analysts at UBS upgraded them to buy from neutral, predicting the company will report better-than-expected earnings next year.
The Fed concludes its two-day monetary-policy meeting later in the day and is scheduled to release its decision at 2 p.m. ET. The central bank is largely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points, marking the eighth time it has tightened policy since 2015.
Investors will also look for clues about future moves on monetary policy, especially those before year-end. Market expectations for a December rate hike were above 80% on Wednesday. The Fed has already hiked rates twice this year.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 3.08% from Tuesday’s 3.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 35 cents to $71.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $5.60 to $1,199.50 U.S. an ounce.
