Stocks in Canada’s biggest financial centre rose in the first hour of trading Thursday, as mining shares drove broad gains, while Shopify Inc extended its previous session’s losses.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index leaped 49.33 points to open Thursday trading at 15,770.33.
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.41 cents to 79.74 cents U.S
Shopify skidded $11.16, or 8.7%, to $117.79.
Progress Energy, the Canadian unit of Malaysian state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad, said it was looking to sell its Deep Basin oil and gas asset in Alberta.
Shares in Progress on the OTCBB were static at 36 cents.
Sears Canada on Wednesday won court approval to extend credit protection by a month to Nov. 7, but its creditors set a deadline this week to liquidate the retailers' assets, leaving the company with mere days to decide its fate.
RBC raised the target price on Petrus Resources to $3.50 from $3.25. Petrus shares ditched three cents, or 1.1%, to $2.67.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that our merchandise trade deficit totaled $3.4 billion in August, widening from a $3.0-billion deficit in July. Exports decreased 1.0% while imports were unchanged.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.96 points to 785.89
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher to start the day, with materials better by 1%, while energy and health-care issues each rose 0.6%.
The lone laggard was information technology, down 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks hit record highs on Thursday as the S&P 500 tried to complete an eight-day winning streak.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 28.12 points to Wednesday’s record, to 22,689.76. Goldman Sachs and Apple contributed the most to the gains.
The S&P 500 advanced 5.3 points from Wednesday’s all-time record to 2,543.04. Real-estate led advancers on the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ grew 19.45 points to Wednesday’s record high to 6,554.08. The index was also on track to complete an eight-day winning streak.
Wall Street also looked ahead to the government's monthly employment report, which is set for release Friday morning.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost ground, raising yields to 2.34% from Wednesday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 46 cents a barrel to $50.44 U.S.
Gold prices took on 50 cents to $1,277.30 U.S. an ounce
