Canada's main stock index climbed on Wednesday, as surging gold prices boosted materials shares, while the Bank of Canada held borrowing costs steady at its interest rate meeting.
The TSX Composite Index hiked 119.92 points to move into Wednesday afternoon at 24,187.85.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.43 cents to 72.07 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Parkland said Bob Espey will step down as president and Chief Executive Officer of the oil and gas firm.
Shares in Parkland dipped 70 cents, or 2.1%, to $32.00.
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.75% on Wednesday, ending a run of seven consecutive cuts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange popped 10.68 points, or 1.7%, to 640.72
Seven of the 12 subgroups were higher as gold shone 2.6% brighter, energy jumped 2.4%, and materials hiked 1.7%,
The five laggards were weighed most by industrials, off 0.4%, consumer staples, up 0.2%, and information technology, eking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 slid on Wednesday as investors assessed a stark warning from Nvidia that pressured global tech.
The Dow Jones Industrials sank 211.63 points to move into Wednesday afternoon at 40,157.33.
The broader index folded 68.47 points, or 1.3%, to 5,328.16
The NASDAQ Composite slid 360.42 points, or 2.1%, to 16,463,08
Shares of Nvidia lost 6% after the chip giant said it will post a $5.5-billion quarterly charge related to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other nations. The company said in a filing that the U.S. government required a license to send chips from the U.S. to China.
Other chipmakers followed Nvidia lower. AMD slid more than 6%, while Micron Technology slid 3%. Adding to the broader chip decline was a disappointing earnings report from ASML, with U.S.-listed shares losing more than 5%.
Big tech also felt pressure. Meta Platforms slid more than 2%, while Google-parent Alphabet and Tesla each declined by more than 1%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up slightly Wednesday, easing yields to 4.32% from Tuesday’s 4.33%. Treasury prices and yields in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.23 to $62.51 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold jumped $100.50 to $3,341.10 U.S.
