Futures for Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday tracking gains on the Wall Street, helped by higher bullion prices, while further gains were capped by weakness in oil prices.
The TSX gained 41.11 points to conclude Wednesday, the last full day of trading before Christmas, at 17,593.57.
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 77.86 cents U.S.
March futures were higher 0.2% Thursday.
Markets on both sides of the border will close early Thursday, at 1 p.m. EST for Christmas Eve.
Great Canadian Gaming Corp said on Wednesday its shareholders had voted in favor of a sweetened deal that would see Apollo Global Management Inc buy the Canadian casino operator for $2.52 billion.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Cineplex to $8.50 from $7.00
TD Securities raised the target price on NFI Group to $26.00 from $16.00
National Bank of Canada raised the rating on Shawcor to outperform from sector perform.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported building permits rose 12.9% to $9.4 billion in November, the third highest value on record — the highest value having been reached in April 2019.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hurtled higher by 11.92 points Wednesday to 841.89.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures rose in early trading Thursday ahead of the final trading day of the holiday-shortened week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 46 points, or 0.2%, at 30,080.
Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 5.75 points, or 0.2%, at 3,687.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite took on 11.5 points, or 0.1%, to 12,709.75. The tech-heavy index is on track to end the week higher, after hitting an intraday high in the previous session.
With just five trading days left in the year, the NASDAQ is on pace to be the clear winner, currently up around 42%. The Dow has picked up 5.6%, and S&P 500 is up 14.2%.
The market will close early at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, and will be closed on Friday in observance of Christmas. Trading is expected to be thin on Christmas Eve.
The Dow and the S&P 500 have registered small losses this week so far amid profit-taking action into the year-end. Policy uncertainty also damped investor spirits in the holiday week.
President Donald Trump slammed Congress’ $900-billion COVID relief package an unsuitable "disgrace." The president took particular issue with the direct payments, which he said should be lifted from $600 to $2,000.
Investors also closely monitored the progress on the vaccine rollout. The CDC said just over one million shots had been administered as of Wednesday, roughly 19 million doses shy of earlier projections from public health officials for December.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index moved ahead 0.2%.
Oil prices slipped 45 cents to $47.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved higher $1.90 at $1,880 U.S.
