Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened higher on Monday, helped by gains for its heavyweight financials sector, while gold miners and other materials stocks weighed.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped 75.11 points to open the day and the week at 15,689.59
The Canadian dollar poked higher 0.09 cents at 74.26 cents U.S.
Canadian National Railway is expected to report a rise in quarterly revenue as it moves higher volumes of Canadian grains and U.S. soybeans, refined petroleum products and petroleum coke. The company is scheduled to report quarterly results after the closing bell on Monday.
CN shares barreled ahead $1.24, or 1.2%, to $102.19.
Precision Drilling Corp reported a smaller-than-expected rise in revenue as the rates customers paid to hire rigs fell despite increased demand.
Precision Drilling shares backed off 11 cents, or 1.9%, to $5.72.
Cenovus Energy has said it may sell parts of the Deep Basin natural gas assets it recently bought from Houston-based ConocoPhillips, Royal Bank of Canada analysts wrote in a research note on Sunday.
Shares in Cenovus eked up three cents to $14.21.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc won a contract from Saudi Aramco for initial engineering and design work to expand the gas-oil separation plant of the Berri oilfield.
SNC shares added 19 cents to $54.46.
RBC raised the target price IGM Financial to $47.00 from $42.00. IGM gained 68 cents, or 1.7%, to $40.35.
Raymond James cut the target price on Mullen Group to $16.25 from $18.50. Mullen shares docked a penny to $15.30.
Barclays cut the target price on Vermilion Energy to $64.00 from $66.00. Vermilion shares deducted a dime to $48.44 in the early going.
An OPEC and non-OPEC technical committee recommended on Friday that producers extend a global deal to cut oil supplies for another six months from June
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Monday that February’s wholesale trade was $58.9 billion in February, down 0.2%, following four consecutive monthly gains.
The agency goes on to say that declines were recorded in four sub-sectors, led by lower sales in the personal and household goods and the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 3.05 points to 821.87.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, with financials climbing 1.2%, industrials up 0.8%, and consumer discretionary taking
on 0.6%.
The two laggards were gold, dropping 2.3%, while materials were off 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities got off to a roaring start on Monday as investors cheered the results of the first round in the French presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leaped 227.56 points, or 1.1%, to 20,775.32, with Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar contributing the most gains
The S&P 500 hiked 25.66 points, or 1.1%, to 2,374.75, with financials surging more than 1.5% to lead advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite hauled 72.36 points to 5,982.88, a new intraday high.
That said, investors are also staring down the barrel of a potential government shutdown. Government funding will end Friday unless Congress can agree on at least a temporary funding resolution.
The last time the government shut down was Oct. 1 through 16, 2013.
Early results from the French election showed Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advancing to a presidential runoff. Far-right candidate Le Pen and centrist Macron were largely expected to pull ahead in the first round of the French contest. The two had led most of the polls leading up to the election.
Le Pen and Macron will face off again on May 7. Most polls show Macron easily beating Le Pen in the second round.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell, raising yields to 2.3% from Friday’s 2.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 35 cents at $49.27 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dived $17.30 at $1,271.80 U.S. an ounce.
