Equities in Canada’s biggest market gained for a second straight session on Thursday, adding to an 11-month high as health-care stocks and base metals led the upward progress.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 20.72 points to close at 14,514.52
The Canadian dollar gained 0.46 cents to 77.54 cents U.S.
It was a banner day for drug companies, in particular, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, climbing $1.58, or 5.6%, to $29.69, while rival Concordia International collected 26 cents, or 1%, to $26.91.
Among energy concerns, Birchcliff Energy shot higher 84 cents, or 10.7%, to $8.70, while Baytex Energy inched ahead two cents to $7.26.
Gold stocks faded as Kinross Gold dropped five cents to $6.96, and Eldorado Gold fell 10 cents, or 1.6%, to $6.32.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index rose 0.7% in May, following a 0.3% increase in April.
The agency calls this the largest monthly advance since July 2007, mainly driven by higher new housing prices in the combined region of Toronto and Oshawa and in Vancouver.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 7.27 points to 764.96
Eight of the 13 subgroups were higher on the day, as health-care was better by 1.6%, metals and mining climbed 0.6%, and energy perked 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, down 1%, real-estate, declining 0.7%, and utilities, sliding 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed higher Thursday after the Bank of England hinted at looser monetary policy next month and as earnings season kicked into full gear.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 134.29 points from Wednesday’s all-time high to 18,506.41, with Goldman Sachs, IBM and Apple contributing the most gains.
Among Dow transport stocks, United Continental and American Airlines were the upward leaders. Delta and CSX also helped the index, with better-than-expected quarterly results this week.
The S&P 500 gained 11.32 points to 2,163.75, hitting a fresh intraday high, with financials leading nine sectors higher and utilities the only decliner.
The NASDAQ Composite Index gained 28.33 points to 5,034.65, as Apple shares gained more than 3.5%
Shares of JPMorgan rose about 2% in afternoon trade, while BlackRock's stock slipped 0.2%.
Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and U.S. Bancorp will kick off the next wave of earnings before the bell Friday.
The United Kingdom's central bank kept interest rates unchanged, while market consensus was for a 25-basis-point rate cut to 0.25%, which would have been the bank's first move since 2009.
On the data front, investors digested the latest reading of weekly jobless claims, which showed no change week over week. Meanwhile, the June reading of the producer price index showed an increase of 0.5%, above the expected 0.3% rise.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury retreated, boosting yields to 1.53% from Wednesday’s 1.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were positive 70 cents a barrel to $45.45 U.S.
Gold prices fell $9.70 to $1,333.90 U.S. an ounce.
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