Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday as oil prices rose and the energy, financial and industrial groups gained ground.
The S&P/TSX Composite improved 33.97 points to greet noon at 15,431.82
The Canadian dollar fell 0.33 cents at 75.05 cents U.S.
Canadian Pacific Railway, which rose 4.6% to $201.40, a day after saying its chief executive would leave five months earlier than originally expected and reported a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit.
Uranium producer Cameco Corp bounced 7.9% higher to $15.53 after a nearly 17% fall on Wednesday after a profit warning.
Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust advanced 9.5% to $21.52 after a unit of private investment firm Starwood Capital Group said it would buy the REIT in a deal valued at about $2.85 billion.
Among gold issues, Goldcorp Inc lost 1.6% to $19.92.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $7.9 billion in November, largely through sales of U.S. instruments. At the same time, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities slowed to $7.2 billion, following a $15.8-billion investment in October.
Elsewhere, manufacturing sales rose 1.5% in November to $51.8 billion, following a 0.6% decline in October.
The agency attributed the rise to higher sales in the primary metal, petroleum and coal product, and chemical manufacturing industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.45 points to 792.13
All but three of the 12 subgroups were positive nearing noon hour ET, with industrials chugging ahead 0.9%, while gold and telecoms each gathered 0.6%.
The three laggards were consumer staples, sliding 0.5%, while information technology and utilities were off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly lower midday Thursday as investors eagerly awaited President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 29.12 points midday to 19,775.60, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 moved down 2.71 points to 2,269.11, with real estate falling 0.8% to lead decliners.
The NASDAQ composite index tailed off 0.79 points to 5,554.87
Investors in the U.S. also focused on corporate quarterly results as earnings season continued. Bank of New York Mellon and Union Pacific were among the companies reporting before the bell, with Dow components IBM and American Express set to report after the close. Video streaming giant Netflix saw its shares spike nearly 6%, having posted solid results on strong subscriber growth.
Several Trump cabinet nominees are slated to testify before Congress, including Treasury secretary designate Steve Mnuchin.
In economic news, weekly jobless in the States claims dropped 15,000 to 234,000, around their lowest levels in 40 years. Housing starts, meanwhile, spiked 11.3% in December, beating estimates. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve business conditions index rose to 23.6, above a consensus estimate of 15.8.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note swooned, driving up yields to 2.47% from Wednesday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 26 cents to $51.34 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices tumbled $10.20 to $1,201.90 U.S. an ounce.
