Canada's main stock index opened higher on Friday, with technology shares leading the gains, as investors assessed the domestic retail sales data.
The TSX leaped 223.08 points to open Friday at 31,663.93.
The Canadian dollar poked up 0.1 cents to 72.67 cents U.S.
BlackBerry raised the lower end of its fiscal 2026 revenue forecast on strong demand for its cybersecurity software, while posting third-quarter revenue above analyst estimates. BlackBerry shares shed 63 cents, or 10.5%, to $5.40.
Lundin Mining said it planned to sell its Eagle nickel-copper mine and Humboldt Mill to Talon Metals in a deal worth about $84 million. Lundin shares began Friday up 76 cents, or 2.7%. to $28.58.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada said its new housing price index was unchanged in November, in contrast with a 0.4% decrease the month before, while retail sales decreased 0.2% to $69.4 billion in October.
Sales were down in four of nine subsectors, led by decreases at food and beverage retailers.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchanged prospered 12.17 points, or 1.3%, to 954.25.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with materials up 2%, gold better by 1.8%, and health-care ahead 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by real-estate, consumer discretionary and industrials stocks, each down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite rose on Friday, lifted by Oracle, as the artificial intelligence trade looks to regain its footing after experiencing volatility.
The Dow Jones Industrials ballooned 288.14 points by the end of the day, to 48,239.99
The S&P 500 index hiked 55.11 points to 6,829.87
The NASDAQ spiked 239.02 points to 23,245.38.
Oracle shares up more than 7% after TikTok agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a new joint venture that includes the software giant and private equity investor Silver Lake.
The jump marks a turnaround the for the stock, which has been a focal point of concern among investors this week after a report revealed that the cloud infrastructure company lost a key backer of one of its data center projects.
That dragged down other stocks linked to AI, including names such as Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices.
Elsewhere in the space, shares of AI chip darling Nvidia rose more than 3% after Reuters reported that the Trump administration is reviewing the prospect of the company selling its advanced AI chips to China.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said that he will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 AI chips to “approved customers” in the country.
Additionally, Micron Technology shares extended their gains from the previous session, rising more than 7%. The stock surged 10% on Thursday the company gave robust guidance for revenues in the current quarter, saying that “demand is substantially higher than supply for the foreseeable future.”
The results reassured investors after recent sessions were swamped with jitters over the AI trade, which is now looking to score a strong finish to the year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 4.15% from Thursday’s 4.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 43 cents to $56.58.
Gold prices slid $1.70 to $4,362.80.
