Canadian stocks slightly up as crude rebounds

Canada's main stock market in Toronto closed slightly higher above the breakeven point Wednesday as subdued crude oil prices rebounded back from early losses.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 11.49 point, or 0.08 percent, to close at 14,231.06 points. Five of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.

Oil prices rebounded Wednesday following previous day's sharp losses, as investors awaited the U.S. Energy Information Administration's stockpile data scheduled for release Thursday.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose 0.83 dollar to settle at 47.43 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery gained 0.84 dollar to close at 48.80 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

TSX energy shares went up 0.19 percent but heavyweight financial stocks pulled back 0.68 percent as global growth fears rose again.

Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 2.09 percent to 54.83 Canadian dollars (42.31 U.S. dollars) and Manulife Financial Corporation dropped 1.69 percent to 16.86 Canadian dollars.

Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. fell 0.27 percent to 54.69 Canadian dollars, Suncor Energy lost 0.82 percent to 36.43 Canadian dollars, but Canadian Natural Resources added 1.34 percent to 40.75 Canadian dollars.

Barrick Gold advanced 3.12 percent to 30.03 Canadian dollars, Kinross Gold increased 1.22 percent to 7.44 Canadian dollars, and B2Gold Corp. rose 7.63 percent to 3.81 Canadian dollars.

Centerra Gold Inc. declined 8.02 percent to 7.45 Canadian dollars after agreeing to buy U.S.-based Thompson Creek Metals for around 1.1 billion Canadian dollars to expand its operations in North America.

BlackBerry Limited shares dropped 0.71 percent to 8.45 Canadian dollars one day after the Canadian smartphone maker said it will stop making its Classic smartphone, less than two years after launching it with much fanfare.

On the economic agenda, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's exports fell 0.7 percent to 41.1 billion Canadian dollars in May, while imports eased 0.8 percent to 44.4 billion Canadian dollars.

As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world in May was virtually unchanged from April at 3.3 billion Canadian dollars.

The Canadian dollar traded higher at 0.7717 U.S. dollar, compared with Tuesday's closing rate of 0.7683 U.S. dollar. Endit