Roundup: Canadian stocks inch up amid mixed corporate earnings

Canada's main stock market in Toronto edged higher Wednesday amid a U.S. decision to keep rate on hold as well as mixed profit reports from heavyweight Canadian companies.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 46.45 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 12,377.77 points. Half of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors clicked higher.

The Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range between 0.25 and 0.5 percent. The U.S. central bank has opted to hike its benchmark rate in late 2015, the first time it had moved its rate in almost a decade from record lows.

"The committee is closely monitoring global economic and financial developments and is assessing their implications for the labor market and inflation," said the Fed's policy-setting committee.

Analysts believe that financial markets will be looking at the forward guidance to see when the next hike will occur. Fed policymakers will be able to sift through the January and February employment reports before their next policy meeting in March.

On Wednesday, the TSX managed to move higher with gains in energy and financial stocks offsetting weakness in telecom and health care sub-groups.

The energy sector advanced 1.47 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Limited rocketed 4.77 percent to 27.68 Canadian dollars a share, Trican Well Service Ltd. surged 12.32 percent and Perpetual Energy Inc. added 12.50 percent.

Telecom group declined 2.22 percent. Rogers Communications Inc. sank 5.39 percent to 48.13 Canadian dollars a share as the Canadian telecom giant reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, with television and landline phone revenues down and Internet and wireless sales growing.

Toronto-based Rogers, which has the largest share of Canada's wireless market, said it added 31,000 net postpaid wireless subscribers, who typically spend much more than those who prepay.

Canadian National Railway posted 0.63 percent increase to 71.74 Canadian dollars a share. The Montreal-base company reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter profit and raised its 2016 quarterly dividend by 20 percent as costs fell on lower fuel expenses.

The most influential laggards also included convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard, which fell 2.98 percent to 60.28 Canadian dollars a share, and Tim Hortons and Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International, which lost 3.70 percent to 46.33 dollars a share.

Meanwhile, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on Wednesday flagged Saskatoon, Regina and Toronto for a combination of high housing prices and overbuilding. Calgary and Winnipeg markets were also getting riskier.

The federal housing agency looks at housing markets in 15 Canadian cities every quarter, in an effort to detect housing bubbles.

In Toronto, rapid price acceleration in the past year has led to prices that are just too high for detached homes, but the agency is also monitoring the city for the potential emergence of overbuilding, especially in the condo market.

In a report released Wednesday, the Toronto Real Estate Board estimated the number of resale condo listings in the city rose 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, but sales were 5,596, an increase of 12.6 percent. That tightening of the market has pushed up condo prices, which rose 4.1 percent to 382,070 Canadian dollars.

Despite having the highest home prices in Canada, Vancouver was only at moderate risk of overvaluation of real estate prices, the agency said. It pointed to the city's low vacancy rates and the predominance of high net worth buyers, saying demand will remain strong.

Instead, it saw more risk of overvaluation in Montreal and Quebec, where slower growth in first-time home buyer demand has combined with only modest increases in income.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7091 U.S. dollar, compared with Tuesday's closing rate of 0.7105 U.S. dollar. Enditem