Toronto stocks were slightly in the green to begin the last session of February, as higher oil prices helped support shares of energy producers and banks climbed after recently reporting quarterly results.
The S&P/TSX composite index began Friday ahead 11.94 points to 15,253.10
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.13 cents to 80.03 cents U.S.
Bombardier Inc confirmed on Thursday that it will begin long-delayed flight testing on Friday on the CS300 - the larger version of its new CSeries narrow-body jet. Bombardier shares were grounded six cents to $2.55 to start the session.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday, helped by strong growth in its wholesale banking business, and unexpectedly raised its dividend. CIBC shares took on 43 cents to $95.66.
TD Securities raised the target price on Hudson's Bay Co. to $36.00 from $28.00. Bay shares eked up four cents to $27.04.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.22 points to 701.15
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher in the first hour of trading, led by metals and mining stocks, moving higher 1.8%, gold, up 1.2%, and global base metals, advancing 0.9%
The five laggards were weighed mostly by information technology, sliding 0.9%, industrials, down 0.5%, and consumer discretionary issues, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. markets traded lower on Friday, February's last trading day, amid domestic economic reports and slight oil gains.
The Dow Jones Industrials retreated 24.01 points to 18,190.41, with Boeing the greatest laggard and Coca-Cola leading about a third of blue chips higher.
The S&P 500 moved downward 1.63 points to 2,109.11, with materials leading gains and utilities the greatest decliner.
The NASDAQ index lost 6.53 points to 4,981.36
Fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product stateside was revised to show growth of 2.2%. Analysts polled by Reuters expect GDP growth of 2.1%, after a final reading of 5% in the third quarter.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index came in at posted 45.8, the lowest since July 2009. Boockvar partly attributed the contraction level, not seen since April 2013, to the West Coast port strike.
Consumer sentiment came in at 95.4 for February, down from January's 98.1.
Pending home sales were the highest in 18 months, the National Association of Realtors said.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.02%.
Oil prices climbed 93 cents to $49.10 U.S.
Gold prices took on $3.60 an ounce to $1,213.70 U.S.
