Equities in Canada’s largest market continued their winning ways Thursday, as financials and real-estate issues displayed a fair bit of muscle.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 57.45 points to conclude Thursday at 15,295.20
The Canadian dollar added 0.22 cents to 75.78 cents U.S.
Manulife Financial sprang to life 67 cents, or 2.8%, to $24.36, while Royal Bank jumped $1.10, or 1.3%, to $89.43.
Health-care stocks were not so victorious, however, as Canopy Growth collapsed 68 cents, or 6.4%, to $10.02, while Concordia International dropped six cents, or 2%, to $2.91.
In the information technology realm, Constellation Software got bruised $25.43, or 4.1%, to $592.00.
Gold stocks stubbed their toes, too, as Goldcorp dropped a penny to $17.85.
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 faded 0.47 points to 749.50
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with financials prospering 1.1%, real-estate up 0.9%, and consumer discretionary issues, up 0.5%
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, ailing 1.1%, information technology, clicking lower 0.8%, and gold, dulling 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed higher on Thursday, notching fresh record highs, as a post-election rally continued following a key monetary policy announcement from the European Central Bank.
The Dow Jones Industrials added to Wednesday’s all-time high, boosting 65.19 points to 19,614.81, with Walt Disney leading advancers and United Technologies the biggest decliner.
The S&P 500 gained 4.84 points to 2,246.19, with financials leading seven sectors higher and industrials lagging.
The three major indexes, along with the small-caps Russell 2000 and the S&P Mid Cap 400, all closed at record levels.
The NASDAQ composite index climbed 23.59 points to 5,417.36
As of Thursday’s close, the Dow has posted gains in 19 of the past 23 sessions and 13 record closes since the presidential election on Nov. 8
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 $1.08 to $50.85 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices weakened $4.50 to $1,173 U.S. an ounce.
