Canadian shares broke a seven-day rout as investors assessed earnings reports and as Chinese shares pulled back from a selloff.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.4 percent to 14,053.12 at 12:50 p.m. in Toronto. Three shares advanced for every issue that declined as six out of ten share groups were in the positive territory.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.7 percent at the close in Asia, after sinking as much as 5.1 percent earlier. China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, rose 2 percent as oil prices turned positive today. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, rose 0.7 percent to C$32.96. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, was flat at C$54.88.
Husky Energy (TSE:HSE), Canada's third-largest integrated oil producer, rose 3.6 percent to C$23.39. Husky’s second-quarter profit plunged 81 percent and cash flow fell 22 percent as slumping crude oil and natural-gas prices continued to weigh on the energy company’s results.
MEG Energy (TSE:MEG) added 3.8 percent to C$13.90 even as the oil sands company after posting an operating loss and lower cash flow for the second quarter compared with a year earlier, hurt by lower crude oil prices.
PrairieSky Royalty (TSE:PSK) advanced 1.3 percent to C$26.50 after posting a second-quarter profit of C$24.1 million, or 16 Canadian cents a share, on revenue of C$71.8 million.
The U.S. oil benchmark recently traded up 1.6 percent to $48.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling to as low as $46.68 a barrel in overnight trading.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, gained 0.3 percent even as gold prices edged lower. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, added 0.9 percent to C$16.57. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, rose 0.6 percent to C$9.03.
Gold for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, was recently down 0.2 percent at $1,094.70 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, added 0.5 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, inched up 0.4 percent to C$73.78. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, added 0.5 percent to C$51.19.
WestJet Airlines (TSE:WJA) lost 1.7 percent to C$22.29. Canada's second-biggest carrier reported a 19 percent increase in its second-quarter profit and slightly stronger revenue, helped in part by lower fuel costs.
BlackBerry (TSE:BB) jumped 4.8 percent to C$9.96 after analysts at Morgan Stanley raised their rating for the company.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) slipped 0.1 percent to 581.01 at 11:28 a.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, Canadian producer prices rose 0.5 percent in June largely due to higher prices for energy products and vehicles, Statistics Canada said today.
In the U.S. market, shares looked set to break the five-day losing streak today, as investors looked past softer economic reports and a continued rout in China’s stock market. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 0.5 percent to 2,078.79 at 11:25 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) added 0.5 percent to 17,521.37, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) added 0.2 percent to 5,051.73. Most followed shares included Merck, Pfizer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, DuPont, UPS, Baidu, eBay, Ford, DR Horton, PayPal, and Reynolds American.