TORONTO — Oil prices rose for a second day in a row Wednesday, helping Canada's main stock market finish higher amid the political and economic uncertainty of Britain officially filing to leave the European Union.
On Bay Street, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 59.06 points at 15,657.63, with metals and energy sectors leading advancers.
The May oil contract added $1.14 at US$49.51 per barrel on the heels of a report from the Energy Information Administration finding crude inventories in the U.S. rose at a slightly lower pace than expected.
The Canadian dollar was another beneficiary of strengthening crude, with the loonie jumping 0.28 of a U.S. cent to 75 cents US.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the two-year divorce process in a six-page letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, vowing that Britain will maintain a "deep and special partnership" with its neighbours in the bloc. In response, Tusk told Britain: "We already miss you."
May's invocation of Article 50 of the EU's key treaty sets the clock ticking on two years of negotiations until Britain becomes the first major nation to leave the union.
The results had sent stock markets around the world tumbling as the British pound plunged.
But on Wednesday, markets were somewhat muted to the news that England was putting the wheels in motion for its departure.
"It's because the fact that it's being triggered is expected," said Norman Levine, managing director at Portfolio Management Corp.
"The intricacies between Britain and the EU are so big, it's still an unknown how things are going to work there. People don't know what to do, so they just don't do anything."
In other commodities, May natural gas contracts were up five cents at US$3.23 per mmBTU, the April gold contract was down $1.90 at US$1,253.70 an ounce and May copper contracts were unchanged at US$2.68 a pound.
Meanwhile in New York, indices were mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 42.18 points at 20,659.32, the S&P 500 index added 2.56 points at 2,361.13 and the Nasdaq composite index gained 22.41 points at 5,897.55.
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors said more people signed contracts to buy U.S. homes last month as warm weather and rising confidence appeared to encourage consumers to look for houses. The NAR's pending home sales index climbed 5.5 per cent in February to 112.3, its highest point since April and its second-highest point since 2006.
— With files from The Associated Press
Follow @LindaNguyenTO on Twitter.
By Linda Nguyen, The Canadian Press
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