Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, led by retailer Dollarama, although lingering geopolitical tensions kept investors on edge.
The TSX Composite Index sprang back up 276.25 points, slightly below its highs of Thursday morning, at 34,427.57.
The Canadian dollar weakened 0.28 cents to 71.41 cents U.S.
Apotex Health made its Toronto market debut on Wednesday, raising about $1.3 billion in gross proceeds — the largest IPO for the TSX in five years. Apotex shares began at $24.00.
Dollarama shares ballooned $14.12, or 7.9%, to $193.69.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported in April, the total value of building permits issued in Canada decreased $1.0 billion (-7.6%) to $12.5 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restored 14.92, or 1.6%, to 927.09.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were pointed upward midday, led by consumer discretionary stocks, up 2.2%, while materials and energy each took on 1.8%.
The two laggards were information technology and real-estate, each down 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities gained on Thursday, boosted by a rebound in chip stocks after recent pressure, but the advance was capped as U.S.-Iran tensions ramped up.
The Dow Jones Industrials hiked 306.57 points to 50,225.35.
The S&P 500 index resurged 22.57 points to 7,298.56
The NASDAQ regained 136.92 points to 25,306.43.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures were last trading around the flatline at roughly $90 a barrel. Oil prices had risen earlier in the day after President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. will be attacking Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT.” He also said, “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.”
This comes after U.S. Central Command forces launched more “self-defense strikes” against Iran late Wednesday, according to Centcom’s post on social media platform X. The attacks came at the direction of Trump, according to the post.
The market was given momentum from a rebound in Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel
Intel was upgraded by Bank of America from underperform to buy on Thursday and the shares responded with a 4% gain. Elsewhere, the producer price index increased 1.1% in May, more than the 0.7% that economists polled by Dow Jones expected.
Still, not all of tech was a bright spot Thursday. Shares of Oracle dropped 11% as the software giant announced plans to raise an additional $20 billion in equity and debt to pay for its artificial intelligence buildout.
Core inflation — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — stood at 0.4%, below the Dow Jones forecast for 0.5%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury eked higher, lowering yields to 4.52% from Wednesday’s 4.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 10 cents to $90.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $30.10 to $4,103.20 U.S. an ounce.
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