Crude oil futures rose to record high early Wednesday on worries about production capacity constraints. The September light sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at US$44.20 a barrel, up US5¢ per barrel.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In today’s earnings news, BCE Inc said its second-quarter profit jumped 19.5% to $571 million as revenue rose 2.3%.

Earnings for the period ended June 30 amounted to 60¢ a share compared with $478 million or 50¢ per share a year earlier, the company said.

Overninght in Asia, markets fell as rising oil prices dampened investor sentiment.

Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 130.55 points, or 1.17%, finishing at 11,010.02.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 76.86 points, or 0.62%, to 12,280.26.

Rising crude oil prices came to Bay Street’s rescue Tuesday, but together with disappointing economic news, dampened U.S. stocks.

At close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite gained 6.07 points or 0.07% to 8,464.14 on volume of 172 million shares, while the TSX Venture Exchange held on to finish up 3.66 points or 0.24% to 1,511.54.

The TSX energy group finished ahead 0.51%. Big gainers included Suncor Energy, up 52¢ or 1.35% to $38.90, and Talisman Energy, up 45¢ or 1.43% to $32.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average lost 58.92 points or 0.58%, while the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index fell 32.67 points or 1.73% to 1l859.42, and the S&P 500 closed down 6.93 points or 0.63% to 1,099.69.