Equities rose to a fresh nine-month high on Thursday as mining stocks rallied, while stronger-than-expected earnings from the country's biggest bank by market value helped financials edge higher.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained afloat 28.5 points to greet noon Thursday at 14,082.24.
The Canadian dollar was still positive 0.23 cents to 77.03 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold climbed 1.3% to $22.80, while Goldcorp was up 1.6% at $22.22.
Copper prices reached two-week highs, while spot gold edged 0.2% higher as the U.S. dollar's rally paused.
Canada's two largest lenders reported an increase in bad loans to oil and gas firms as low crude prices hurt energy sector borrowers and cut into bank profits.
Still, financials rose, led by a 1% advance in the shares of Royal Bank of Canada to $80.05. It said net income excluding one-off items for the second quarter to April 30 was $2.6 billion, or $1.66 per share, better than the average estimate by analysts.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported this morning that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $960 in March, up 0.5% from the previous month. Compared with the same month the year before, average weekly earnings increased 0.7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 2.11 points to 679.19.
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups gained ground, most notably, metals and mining, up 1.7%, consumer staples, ahead 0.8%, and utilities, gaining 0.6%.
The two laggards were health-care, down 0.9%, and gold, up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range Thursday, struggling for a third-straight day of gains, with oil trying to hold the psychologically key $50.00 level after earlier topping it for the first time since October.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 28.36 points to greet noon Thursday at 17,822.95, with Goldman Sachs weighing the most on the Dow
The S&P 500 slid 0.4 points to 2,090.14. Materials and financials were the greatest S&P laggards
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.51 points to 4,894.38
Durable goods orders jumped 3.4% last month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. However, non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.8% for a third-straight month after an upwardly revised 0.1% drop the prior month.
Initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally-adjusted 268,000 for the week ended May 21.
Pending home sales rose 5.1% in April from the previous month to hit their highest level in a decade.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 1.84% from Wednesday’s 1.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained eight cents a barrel to $49.64 U.S.
Gold prices were down $2.17 to $1,222.24 U.S. an ounce.
