Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The Toronto stock market was higher Wednesday as oil prices stabilized following a series of jolts and Republicans regained control of the U.S. Congress for the first time in eight years.
The S&P/TSX composite index shot up 183.7 points, or 1.28 per cent, to 14,574.08 while traders also considered a variety of earnings reports from the resource, media and manufacturing sectors.
The Canadian dollar continued to lose ground, down 0.18 of a cent to a five-year low of 87.45 cents (U.S.) as the U.S. dollar made strong advances against other currencies in the wake of the results that saw the GOP retain control of the House and gain a majority in the Senate.
U.S. indexes were mainly positive with the Dow Jones industrials ahead 46.27 points to 17,430.11, the S&P 500 index rose 6.39 points to 2,018.49 while the Nasdaq fell 6.57 points to 4,617.07.
Oil prices inched up 21 cents to $77.40 (U.S.) a barrel after West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled to a three-year low in response to plans by Saudi Arabia to cut oil prices to its U.S. customers.
Saudi Arabia made the cut in order to compete with a surge in oil production in the United States in a move analysts say suggests the country is more interested in keeping market share than supporting higher prices.
The move sparked a selloff of TSX energy stocks with the sector dropping more than four per cent. On Wednesday, the sector was ahead almost one per cent.
The consumer discretionary sector was up 0.9 per cent as auto parts maker Magna International Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter profit grew to $470-million or $2.19 a share. That's up from $319-million or $1.39 per diluted share a year ago. Sales increased to $8.82-billion, up from $8.34-billion a year ago. Magna shares gained $6.30 to $116.90.
The stronger greenback weighed on other commodities priced in U.S. dollars, particularly gold as the December contract in New York fell $24.30 to $1,143.40 an ounce. The gold sector fell 2.8 per cent.
The base metals sector declined 0.5 per cent while the December copper contract shed three cents to $2.99 a pound.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, shares of pipeline company Enbridge Inc. were up 16 cents to $52.40 (Canadian) after it posted adjusted earnings of $345-million or 41 cents per share, up from $278-million or 34 cents per share a year ago.
Newspaper publisher Torstar Corp. reported a third-quarter profit of $125.3-million or $1.56 a share as the sale of its Harlequin romance book business boosted its bottom line. However, excluding the sale of Harlequin, the company sustained a net loss from continuing operations of $87-million or $1.08 per share compared with a loss of $80.2-million or $1.01 per share a year ago. Operating revenue slipped to $199.9-million from $215.7-million and its shares dipped five cents to $6.70.
And shares in coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc. were ahead 76 cents to $92.60 as the company earned $98.1-million or 74 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from $113.9-million or 75 cents per share a year ago. Total revenue amounted to $909.2-million, up from $825.4-million. The company is in the midst of being taken over by American fast food giant Burger King.