04:22 PM EST, 11/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday recovered some of its recent losses of late on some bargain buying and also amid optimism Prime Minister Mark Carney's trip to the United Arab Emirates will see him seal ties in areas like artificial intelligence, count in terms of boosting Canada's economic diversification.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 241.95 points, or 0.8%, at 30,278.41. But it is well down from a record close of 30,827.58 struck just last Wednesday, before North American markets started to get all jittery about the possibility of a market correction and market watchers started to raise concerns about the high valuations on tech stocks.

Where the market goes from here may depend on Nvidia (NVDA) earnings due after trade today, as they could shine a light on whether Big Tech is fueling an AI boom or bubble.

Meanwhile, sectors were largely mixed, with both Base Metals and Info Tech up near 2.4%. The Battery Metals Index was the biggest loser, down more than 2%.

In company news, Brookfield Asset Management ( BAM ) was up more than 2% as it launched a US$100 billion global AI Infrastructure program in partnership with NVIDIA and the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).

Touching down in Abu Dhabi today, Carney became the first sitting Canadian prime minister since 1983 to visit the U.A.E. and there is an expectation that his trip will drum up investment from Emirati sovereign wealth funds, to help diversify this nation's economy in response to an ongoing U.S. trade war.

It's not just the federal government that sees diversification and innovation as key to maintaining future growth, either. Calgary Economic Development (CED) at a 2026 Economic Outlook event said it is advancing targeted programs to support local companies diversify trade relationships. The organization is expanding its trade services programming with market-specific supports to help local companies take advantage of international agreements and diversify beyond the United States to markets within Europe, Asia and the UAE.

RBC Economics published an 'Insight' note today that said services can drive greater Canadian export diversification. The bank noted discussions about tariffs so far have focused primarily on the impact on Canada's goods exports, but it said services represent an "increasingly critical (and underappreciated)" component of the country's trade profile.

Services, RBC noted, have emerged as a growing share of total Canadian exports and have accounted for most of real export growth over the past decade. It also noted Canada has shifted into a services trade surplus in recent years, driven by strong gains in commercial services, bolstered by the rapid rise of digital service delivery, and travel-related exports.

RBC said: "Several structural advantages include the ability to access more diverse markets more easily, fewer geographic constraints, and greater resilience to economic volatility. An expansion of services exports offers a key opportunity for Canada to further economic diversification as goods continue to face trade-related headwinds.

"However," the bank added, "some gains in services trade may be partly contingent on maintaining stable goods trade relationships going forward."

The bank's note comes as provinces took steps to ease internal trade barriers. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business applauded today's announcement that all Canadian jurisdictions have signed a mutual recognition agreement for goods. It urged the governments to keep the momentum going, saying the next phase should include expanding the mutual recognition agreement to services, food products, and alcohol, which still face significant internal trade barriers.

Of commodities, gold traded higher late afternoon Wednesday following three losing sessions on safe-haven buying. Gold for December delivery was last seen up $6.80 to US$4,073.30 per ounce.

But West Texas Intermediate oil settled lower even after a report showed a higher than expected drop in U.S. inventories last week, on concerns the market is over supplied amid rising production. WTI crude oil for December delivery closed down $1.30 to settle at US$59.44 per barrel, while January Brent crude was last seen down $1.42 to US$63.47.