The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)'s name is shown on the facade of its former home on Bay Street in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was little changed Wednesday amid a report of a deteriorating business climate in China.

Traders also awaited a second day of testimony before Congress by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and the release of the central bank's so-called Beige Book, its regional study of economic conditions.

The S&P/TSX composite index edged up 11.02 points to 11,582.21 while the TSX Venture Exchange points to 1,.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 98.76 cents US ahead of the release of the Bank of Canada's Monetary Policy Report and a news conference by bank governor Mark Carney. The bank on Tuesday opted to leave interest rates unchanged at one per cent while again indicating that rates will rise in the future.

Some of China’s biggest corporations are warning of profit declines nearing 80 per cent.

On Wednesday, Air China Ltd., one of three huge, government-owned airlines, warned that profit for the first half of the year will fall by at least half from a year earlier. State-owned ZTE Corp., one of the world’s biggest producers of telecommunications equipment, is projecting a decline of up to 80 per cent.

Chinese leaders are trying to pull China out of its deepest slowdown since the 2008 crisis.

Forecasters say the slowdown might have bottomed out after growth fell to a three-year low of 7.6 per cent in the second quarter

The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.56 points to 1,180.31.

U.S. markets were mainly lower as the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 18.39 to 12,787.15.

The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 9.45 points to 2,919.49 and the S&P 500 index fell 0.11 of a point to 1,363.56.

Markets advanced Tuesday on the strength of strong corporate earnings from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola and also a reassurance from Bernanke that the Fed is prepared to take further action to support a slowing economy — but he didn’t spell out how or when. Bernanke also warned that the country could be headed for another recession if Congress doesn’t avert a looming budget crisis.

The TSX energy sector was up 0.36 per cent as the August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 21 cents to US$89.43 a barrel. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) climbed 59 cents to $27.90.

The base metals group was little changed as copper prices dipped a penny to US$3.45 a pound. Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) improved by nine cents to $8.37.

Financials were also positive as National Bank (TSX:NA) rose 39 cents to $75.18.

The consumer staples sector was the leading percentage gainer, up 0.65 per cent as convenience store chain Alimentation Couche Tard (TSX:ATD.B) gained $1.54 to $49.46.

The gold sector was the weakest component, down 1.1 per cent as gold faded $18.50 to US$1,571 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) gave back 77 cents to $33.33.

On the earnings front, fertilizer company Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) said that it is expecting record earnings for the second quarter. The Calgary-based firm said earnings will be in the range of $5.40 to $5.50 diluted earnings per share while first half earnings will come in at a range of $6.72 to $6.82 per share. Agrium said the revised estimates are about 15 per cent higher than previously announced. Its stock moved up $2.96 to $96.87.

Shares in Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker, shook off early weakness to move up 28 cents to $25.66 after it said Tuesday after the close that the weak global economy is slowing its growth, and revenue for the current quarter is likely to come in below forecasts.

Intel’s second-quarter net income was US$2.83 billion, or 54 cents per share, down 4.3 per cent from a year earlier, as operating expenses rose faster than revenue. Net income beat forecasts by two cents.

There was further good news from the American financial sector Wednesday.

Bank of America swung to a profit of US$2.1 billion or 19 cents a share in the second quarter, much better than a year ago when the bank reported it lost $9.1 billion when it paid $8.5 billion to settle claims from investors who had bought its mortgages or mortgage-backed bonds. The investors said they had been misled about the mortgages’ quality. Earnings beat analyst estimates of 16 cents a share but its stock dipped five cents to US$7.87.

In other earnings news, Swedish wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson reported second-quarter net profit of 1.1 billion kronor, down sharply from the 3.1 billion kronor in the same period a year ago. Ericsson mainly blamed the drop on a shift in its sales pattern as its Networks unit contributed significantly less to its total sales number, while the Global Services unit had higher sales. The net effect of the shift was to pressure the company’s margins.

European bourses were positive with London's FTSE 100 index up 0.04 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.15 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 ran up 0.68 per cent.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.5 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.3 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent.

Elsewhere in corporate news, The Holloway Lodging investment trust (TSX:HLR.UN) says it’s not going to accept any of the three strategic deals offered to it over recent months. The Halifax-based hotel operator says its board has determined that none of the offers is satisfactory. It says, however, it would be open to a strategic deal that maximizes Holloway’s value for its unitholders. Its units fell 30 cents to $3.70.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012