Canadian shares advanced on Wednesday, buoyed by hopes of further stimulus out of Asia.The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) inched up 0.3% to 13,673.73 at 12:20 p.m. in Toronto. Five shares advanced for every four stocks that declined as eight out of ten share groups were in positive territory.
China's Finance Ministry said it would strengthen fiscal policy, boost infrastructure spending and speed up tax reform, helping boost Chinese shares for a second day.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, rose 0.6%. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, rose 0.9% to C$73.09. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, gained 0.7% to $52.39.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, fell 0.4% as oil prices edged lower. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, rose 0.3% to C$35.26. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, added 0.5% to C$54.12.
EnCana (TSE:ECA) rose 1.4% to C$9.29 after the oil and gas major told investors it was achieving high-margin production growth across its strategic assets.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October West Texas Intermediate crude traded at $45.41 a barrel, down 1.2%.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, lost 0.9% as gold fell to a three-week low.
Goldcorp (TSE:G) slumped 3.2% to $16.97 after Canada’s largest gold miner by market value said it has lowered its 2015 production guidance for the Eleonore mine in Quebec to between 250,000 and 270,000 ounces from original expectations for between 290,000 and 330,000 ounces.
Capstone Mining (TSE:CS) fell 1.5% to C$0.670, erasing an earlier gain. The company said it will halt work on a large copper-iron development project in Chile, scale back capital spending and reduce mine operating costs.
Spot gold was down 1% at $1,110.11 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down $11.50 at $1,109.50.
Sandvine (TSE:SVC) tumbled 12% to C$2.65. The networking-equipment provider tumbled said it expects revenue for its third quarter to be about $27mln, which would be down from $28.6mln in the second quarter. It said some deals are taking longer than expected to close.
Quebecor (TSE:QBR.B) advanced 1.4% to $28.25 after the holding company agreed to buy 7.3mln shares of its media unit from pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, representing about a 28.6% stake, for C$500mln.
In economic news, the Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate at 0.5% on Wednesday, declaring its previous two rate cuts were still stimulating an economy that is benefiting from solid household spending and a firm U.S. recovery.
Elsewhere, Canadian housing starts unexpectedly jumped in August from July as condo building surged to meet demand for lower-cost options in the nation's hottest market, extending a housing boom that is one of the few bright spots in Canada's otherwise tepid economy.