Equities in Canada’s largest centre managed to hold onto solid gains Thursday, thanks largely to advances in health-care and energy issues
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had gained 54.19 points to close Thursday at 15,697.18
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.08 cents at 74.52 cents U.S.
Among health-care concerns, medicinal marijuana company Aphria Inc., acquiring 28 cents, or 3.9%, to $7.50. Rival Canopy Growth Corporation gained 27 cents, or 2.7%, to $10.30.
Energy companies were also higher, EnCana Corp. picking up 23 cents, or 1.5%, to $15.88, TransCanada Corp, which won U.S. approval for the construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline last month, rose 60 cents, or nearly 1%, to $62.66.
Industrials also held their own, as Canadian National Railway chugged along 56 cents to $99.11, while Canadian Pacific hiked $1.79 to $209.63
Offsetting gains was a 14-cent fall to $25.87 by Barrick Gold. The miner said on Thursday that China's Shandong Gold Mining will pay $960 million for a 50% stake in Barrick's Veladero gold mine in Argentina.
Goldcorp lost eight cents to $19.86.
Information technology moved backward, as Constellation Software got bruised $6.73, or 1%, to $645.00. BlackBerry, for its part, squeezed out a gain of a penny to $10.64.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported that municipalities issued $7.5 billion worth of building permits in February, down 2.5% from January.
The agency attributes much of this decline to lower construction intentions for single-family dwellings and institutional structures.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 1.55 points to 821.85
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups remained higher by day’s end, headed by health-care, stronger by 0.9%, energy, rumbling ahead 0.5%, and industrials, up 0.4%.
The three laggards proved to be information technology and gold, each of which slipped 0.2%, and consumer staples, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed well off session highs Thursday after President Donald Trump said he's willing to act alone on North Korea if China does not step up.
The Dow Jones Industrials cleared breakeven by 14.8 points to 20,662.95, with Caterpillar the champion among gainers.
The S&P 500 gained 4.54 points to 2,357.49, with energy leading advancers
The NASDAQ Composite added 14.47 points to 5,878.95
The two-day meeting was set to begin Thursday in Mar-a-Lago, Florida and the two leaders are expected to discuss a series of issues, including trade and North Korea
Trump and State Secretary Rex Tillerson also signaled the U.S. seeks to remove Bashar Assad from power in Syria, an apparent reversal following a suspected chemical attack the White House has blamed on the Syrian government.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims fell to 234,000, well below an expected print of 250,000. On Friday, investors will pore over the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly employment report.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell slightly, raising yields to 2.34% from Wednesday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 53 cents at $51.68 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices went up $5.20 at $1,253.70 U.S. an ounce.
