Equities in Toronto edged higher on Thursday as energy shares rebounded after sharp losses the day before even as U.S. oil prices fell below $50.00 a barrel, while the materials group also gained ground.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 46.97 points to open Thursday at 15,543.95, after a 100-point-plus skid on Wednesday
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.07 cents at 74.07 cents U.S.
Taiwan's Cathay Financial Holding Co is in exclusive talks to acquire the Malaysian unit of the Bank of Nova Scotia, in a deal that could be valued between $200 million and $300 million.
Meantime, shares in Scotiabank inched up eight cents to $79.54.
Linamar on Wednesday reported a 21.8% increase in quarterly profit, helped in part by the acquisition of France's Montupet SA last year.
Linamar shares slid $2.08, or 3.4%, to $60.00.
RBC raised the rating on Pretium Resources to outperform from sector perform. Pretium shares acquired three cents to $12.56, in the trading day’s first hour.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Yellow Pages Ltd. to speculative buy from buy. Yellow Pages shares subtracted 11 cents, or 1.3%, to $8.38.
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Bellatrix Exploration to speculative buy from hold. Bellatrix shares were unchanged at $1.03.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said its new housing price index edged up 0.1% in January from the month before, mostly on the strength of higher prices in Ontario.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched back 0.69 points to 792.29
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green to start the day, as materials raced ahead 1.4%, energy chugged 1.2%, and gold shone 0.7% brighter.
The three laggards were real-estate, down 0.04%, consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.03%, and health-care, off 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly flat Thursday as investors parsed through the latest monetary policy decision from the European Central Bank.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 32.66 points to open Thursday at 20,888.39, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 regained 5.1 points to 2,368.08, with financials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ added 12.73 points to 5,850.29
The ECB kept interest rates unchanged, as was widely expected. President Mario Draghi said in a news conference that while some sentiment indicators suggest the region's recovery may be gaining steam, "measures of underlying inflation remain low."
Investors also looked ahead to the February nonfarm payrolls report scheduled for Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. On Wednesday, ADP and Moody's said private companies added 298,000 jobs last month, shattering estimates. Goldman Sachs and UBS subsequently raised their estimates for Friday's report following ADP's blowout number.
Market expectations for a rate hike next week have skyrocketed in recent weeks amid hawkish Federal Reserve rhetoric and solid economic data. According to experts March rate hike expectations were 91%
On the data front Thursday, initial jobless claims bounced back from 44-year lows, with import prices rising 0.2%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell, raising yields to 2.58% from Wednesday’s 2.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back 61 cents to $49.67 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices docked $2.70 to $1,206.70 U.S. an ounce.
