By Adriano Marchese


Stocks in Toronto were firmly higher on Wednesday at midday. The Bank of Canada decided to leave its main interest rate unchanged at 5%, noting that it is still early to consider rate cuts despite encouraging signs on inflation and wage growth in the country.

Most sectors were trending higher in the session, with tech, materials and process industry stocks leading the charge. On the decliners' side, only health tech, health services, and consumer durables to a lesser extent were in the red.

Mid-trading, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was 0.65% higher at 21665.92 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 rose by 0.60% to 1306.93.

Paramount Resources shares fell by over 10% to 28.13 Canadian dollars ($20.70) after the company lowered its sales volumes forecast for 2024 in part amid shut-ins of dry gas production due to current commodity prices.


Other market movers:

Shares in Aecon Group were 9.2% higher at C$15.86 after the construction company reported higher adjusted earnings in the fourth quarter, despite lower revenue and profit.

VersaBank's profit rose in the latest quarter thanks to strong loan growth from the Canadian lender's digital banking operations. The stock was down 3.4% to C$15.58 a share.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-06-24 1217ET