Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras listens during a news conference in Vienna Feb. 9, 2015.HEINZ-PETER BADER/Reuters
The Toronto stock market was higher Wednesday as traders look to an emergency meeting of euro zone finance ministers who will discuss the Greek government's demand for debt relief.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 44.32 points to 15,156.84. The Canadian dollar fell 0.67 of a cent to 78.86 cents (U.S.) in a risk-averse market amid lower commodity prices and growing speculation the Bank of Canada will again cut interest rates.
U.S. indexes were mixed as the Dow Jones industrials lost 28.19 points to 17,840.57, the Nasdaq gained 17.46 points to 4,805.1 and the S&P 500 index edged up 0.35 of a point to 2,068.94.
The meeting of euro zone finance ministers will be the group's first opportunity to hear directly from the new left-wing Greek government, which was elected with an anti-austerity campaign. Greece wants to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout ahead of the expiration of the current agreement in late February.
Speculation that Greece could be granted extra time to hold new negotiations lifted markets Tuesday but German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has poured cold water on that scenario. He told reporters at the Group of 20 meeting in Istanbul that such speculation was the stuff of fantasy.
"The most likely scenario still involves some sort of compromise on the part of Greece and its European creditors, though it is still uncertain what shape that will take," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Carl Campus.
"In the meantime, what we can expect is more volatility."
TSX advancers were led by the telecom sector, up two per cent with Telus ahead 69 cents to $43.53 (Canadian) a day before the Vancouver-based telco releases earnings.
Financials also supported the TSX, up 0.55 per cent.
March copper was off a penny at $2.54 (U.S.) a pound and the base metals sector fell one per cent.
The gold sector lost 0.85 per cent as gold shed early gains to move down $9.90 to $1,222.30 an ounce.
Kinross Gold fell 29 cents to $3.78 (Canadian) as the miner reported a $1.47-billion loss in the most recent quarter. Kinross took impairment charges and writedowns of more than $1-billion, around half related to a decision to not go ahead with a $1.6-billion expansion of its Tasiast mine in Africa's northwest because of weak gold prices.
The adjusted loss was $6-million, or one cent a share, missing forecasts of a profit of 1.2 cents.
The energy sector was down 0.2 per cent. Oil fell $1.54 to $48.48 (U.S.) a barrel on top of a tumble of almost $3 on Tuesday as traders speculate whether oil prices hit a recent bottom around $44 a barrel. Oil prices have hit six-year lows, down 50 per cent from the highs of last summer amid a huge supply/demand imbalance on global markets.
However, there is little evidence that global oil production levels have shown any decline.
The latest data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that supplies increased by another 4.9 million barrels last week, higher than the four million that analysts expected.
The industrials sector also lagged, down 0.6 per cent as Air Canada posted a quarterly net loss of $100-million or 35 cents a share. Adjusted earnings came in at 23 cents a share, a penny short of estimates. Revenue improved 7.2 per cent to $3.1-billion but its shares fell $1.40 or 10.5 per cent to $11.85 (Canadian).