(Reuters) - Canada's main stock index tracked Wall Street higher on Wednesday as the U.S. presidential election hung in the balance, with a handful of close-fought states set to decide the outcome in the coming hours or days.
* At 9:57 a.m. ET (1457 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 112.15 points, or 0.8%, at 16059.68.
* U.S. President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory and made unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud, while Joe Biden said in the early hours he was confident of winning once the votes are counted, and urged patience.
* The country's trade deficit widened to C$3.25 billion ($2.47 billion) in September, missing analyst estimates, with both imports and exports rising in the month, data from Statistics Canada showed.
* The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Finning International Inc, which jumped 9.1% after the heavy machinery maker reported third-quarter profits above analysts' estimates.
* Cancer drug developer Trillium Therapeutics Inc rose 8%.
* The energy sector dropped 0.3%, even as U.S. crude prices were up 0.9% a barrel, while Brent crude added 1.1%.
* The financials sector slipped 0.1%. The industrials sector fell 0.4%.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1% as gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,906.9 an ounce.
* On the TSX, 115 issues were higher, while 106 issues declined for a 1.08-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 26.06 million shares traded.
* Pot producers Canopy Growth Corp (TO:WEED) and Cronos Group Inc were the biggest decliners in TSX, falling 8% and 7.5%, respectively.
* The most heavily-traded shares by volume were Bank of Montreal (TO:BMO), Aurora Cannabis Inc (TO:ACB), and Suncor Energy Inc (TO:SU).
* The TSX posted one new 52-week high and no new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were eight new 52-week highs and one new low, with a total volume of 43.66 million shares.