Rare Quiet Day On Bay Street; TSX Up Modestly -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks eked out modest gains Wednesday, as the energy sector trimmed more of their huge recent losses.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 46.45 points, or 0.38%, to 12,377.77.

Front-month WTI oil settled at $32.30/bbl on Nymex, up 85 cents, or 2.7%. Traders ignored a massive build in US crude oil inventories.

Inventories of US crude rose by 8.4m barrels in the week to January 22, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration.

There was some negative reaction on both sides of the border to the afternoon interest rate announcement from the Federal Reserve.

The US central bank made no change to monetary policy, leaving rates unchanged amid a slowing economy.

Looking at Bay Street, gold stocks continued to perform well, and financials snapped out of their recent funk.

The Energy Index was up 1.4%, but the Health Care Index tumbled 2.9%.

Cardiome Pharma (COM.TO) has filed an FDA orphan drug request for an oral formulation of vernakalant, used to prevent atrial fib after heart surgeries. Shares plunged 11%.

Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO) revealed earnings for its fourth quarter that rose 11% from last year. Shares were up fractionally.

Telecom giant Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) posted a disppointing fourth quarter profit of 43 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 48 cents per share. The stock was down 5.6%.