Canada's main stock index added to a 19-month high on Thursday, helped by gains for heavyweight energy and financial stocks as commodity prices rose and data showed a surge in building permits.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 24.92 points to greet noon Thursday at 15,262.67
The Canadian dollar added 0.08 cents to 75.64 cents U.S.
The most influential movers included Bank of Montreal, which added to sharp gains since reporting strong earnings earlier in the week. It rose 1.4% to $94.43.
Encana Corp was another positive stock, advancing 2.9% to $16.91.
Crescent Point Energy advanced 1% to $17.79 after saying it would increase its capital budget by 31% and boost production by 10% in 2017.
Encana is among others expected to follow, as cautious optimism trickles into the energy industry due to improvements in operating efficiency and two years of steep cost-cutting.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index rose 0.4%, in October, while municipalities issued $7.6 billion worth of building permits in October, up 8.7% from September.
Meanwhile, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported housing starts housing starts in Canada were 199,135 units in November compared to 199,641 in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nicked ahead 0.51 points to 750.48
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower midday, with information technology slumping 1.2%, health-care worse off by 0.6%, and energy down 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by financials, muscling 1%, real-estate, ahead 0.7%, and consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly higher on Thursday, notching fresh record highs, following the European Central Bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged as financials led
The Dow Jones Industrials added to Wednesday’s all-time high, boosting 40.41 points to 19,590.03, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 regained 2.9 points to 2,244.25, an intraday high, with financials rising 0.6%
The NASDAQ composite index climbed 19.1 points to 5,412.86
Entering Thursday, the Dow has posted gains in 18 of the past 22 sessions and 12 record closes since the Nov. 8 presidential election.
The central bank on the continent also extended its quantitative easing program until December 2017, but will reduce purchases to 60 billion euros per month from 80 billion euros. In a news conference, ECB President Mario Draghi said "uncertainty prevails everywhere," but added the risk of deflation has largely disappeared.
In economic news, weekly jobless claims in the U.S. matched expectations at 258,000.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note slouched, raising yields to 2.4% from Wednesday’s 2.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices stayed positive 66 cents to $50.43 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices weakened $4.40 to $1,173.10 U.S. an ounce.
