By Adriano Marchese


Toronto-listed stocks were moderately higher in midday trading after a rocky morning Wednesday. Most Canadian sectors were up, led by health services, consumer services and utilities. Tech was the main of few decliners, followed by health tech.

At midday, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 0.19% at 20271.65, and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 rose by 0.12% to 1225.48.

VersaBank's shares were 9.6% higher at 11.92 Canadian dollars ($8.77) after the Canadian bank reported a rise in earnings in the fourth quarter, driven by higher net interest income and strong loan growth, as well as a recovery of credit losses.


Other market movers:

Dollarama reported better-than-expected profit in its fiscal third quarter on strong demand by consumers looking for value on everyday products to mitigate the higher cost of living. Shares were down 0.5% at C$98.63.

The shares of Barsele Minerals were down 11% at C$0.17 and Gold Line Resources down 8.3% at C$0.11 after the two companies said they will merge to focus on advancing gold projects in Sweden and Finland.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-23 1217ET