TSX, WALL STREET FLAT AS FED STAYS THE COURSE

TORONTO • The Toronto stock market closed relatively flat Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted that it likely won’t move on interest rates any time soon.

The S&P/TSX composite index was ahead 7.18 points at 14,980.15. The Canadian dollar fell 0.40 of a cent to US$88.10.

The latest minutes from the Fed’s October meeting showed that a number of officials were confident that the U.S. economy was on solid footing and expected it to keep improving.

The minutes also indicated that policymakers renewed a debate from their September meeting about whether they should still use the phrase “considerable time” when speaking about when they should hike short-term rates after halting the Fed’s monthly bond purchases at the end of October. In the end, they voted to keep the phrase to avoid markets misinterpreting its removal.

Rates have been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. It’s generally expected that a hike won’t come until mid-2015.

New York’s Dow industrials edged down 2.09 points to 17,685.73, while the Nasdaq fell 26.73 points to 4,675.71 and the S&P 500 index declined 3.08 points to 2,048.72.

The Toronto market was held back by the resource sectors with the energy component down 0.64% as crude oil prices remain stuck around the US$75-a-barrel level. The December oil contract in New York dipped 3¢ to $74.58.

Prices were little changed even after the release of data showing that U.S. inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels this week against the 1.5-million barrel drop that analysts had expected.

“I think the oil price has overshot to the downside,” said Paul Vaillancourt, executive vice-president, private wealth at Fiera Capital in Calgary.

“I’m not sure we’re going to revisit the $100-a-barrel level. That wasn’t warranted where we were in the economic recovery. But (US$75) is not accurate either. It’s not a proper reflection. I think it should be bouncing back towards the (US$80) level.”

The base metals group was down 1.63% while the December copper contract closed 4¢ higher at US$3.05 a pound.

The gold sector gave back 5.6% as the December bullion contract lost $3.10 to US$1,193.90 an ounce.

The consumer staples group led advancers on the TSX, climbing 2.61% as grocer Metro Inc. reported a profit of $115.6-million or $1.32 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter, beating analyst estimates of $1.29. Its revenue in the fourth quarter was up 3.9% from a year earlier, rising to $2.7-billion, while Metro’s same-store sales were up 3.1%. Metro’s shares closed up $8, or almost 10%, at $90.50.

Shares in pipeline company TransCanada climbed $1.50 to $57.50 after CEO Russ Girling said he expects the company’s dividend to grow at an average annual rate of at least 8% through 2017. He added that “success in advancing our major projects” could push annual dividend growth rate to 10% or higher.