Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, as tech and health-care posted major gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 101.9 points to finish Thursday at 16,416.98
The Canadian dollar deducted 0.13 cents at 76.69 cents U.S.
A row over human rights in Saudi Arabia will not have any impact on Saudi oil supplies to Canada, its energy minister said on Thursday, reassuring customers after Riyadh froze new trade with Canada and ruled out mediation efforts.
In the tech field, Thursday’s champion, Constellation Software vaulted $23.83, or 2.6%, to $936.84, while BlackBerry hiked 26 cents, or 1.9%, to $13.68.
Health-care stocks also improved, with Canopy Growth triumphing $1.35, or 3.8%, to $37.16, while Aurora Cannabis collected six cents, or nearly 1%, to $6.24.
Two of Canada's biggest insurance companies, Sun Life and Manulife Financial, on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings which beat market expectations, benefiting in part from strong growth in Asia.
Shares of Manulife Financial gained 59 cents, or 2.5%, to $23.99, while shares of Sun Life eked up nine cents to $51.99, after spending much of the day out of the sun.
Gold felt the brunt of seller’s wraths, as Barrick Gold lost nine cents to $14.15, while Kinross Gold lost 10 cents, or 2.3%, to $4.21.
Consumer discretionary stocks were a tad to the pale side, as Canadian Tire dissolved $14.18, or 7.8%, to $168.22, while Magna International fell 55 cents to $70.20.
Energy stocks also disappointed, as Suncor Energy shares failed to move one way or the other from Wednesday’s closing price of $53.61, while Imperial Oil faded 13 cents to $42.34.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index increased in June, marking the first upward movement since November 2017.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the trend in housing starts was 219,988 units in July 2018, compared to 221,738 units in June 2018.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked ahead 0.87 points to 699.69
All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher on the day, with information technology soaring 1.6%, health-care haler by 1.3%, financials 0.8% more prosperous.
The three laggards were gold, dulling in price 0.4%, consumer discretionary, fading 0.3%, and energy, the lesser by 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite rose slightly on Thursday, lifted by gains in Amazon and Apple.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average subsided 74.52 points to 25,509.23, with Procter & Gamble slipping 1.2%.
The S&P 500 dipped 4.12 points to 2,853.58.
The NASDAQ gained 3.46 points to 7,891.78, as Amazon rose 0.6% to an all-time high while Apple jumped 0.8%. The index also posted an eight-day winning streak, its longest since October.
Entering Thursday's session, the S&P 500 was just 0.5% away from reaching 2,872.87, a record high set on Jan. 26. The broad index has climbed back to record territory as strong quarterly earnings have largely offset worries about rising trade tensions.
Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results thus far. Of those companies, 76% have reported better-than-expected earnings. Overall, S&P 500 earnings for the second quarter are up more than 24% versus the year-earlier period.
Booking Holdings and Norwegian Cruise Line both reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday. Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line rose more than 4%, but Booking Holdings fell after issuing a weak third-quarter profit forecast.
Trade tensions have simmered throughout the strong earnings season, however. Beijing announced Wednesday it would counter the most recent round of U.S. tariffs with its own. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced a 25% charge on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods. In total, 333 goods have been picked out by China, including vehicles, various types of fuels, recyclables and fiber optical cables.
The producer's price index remained unchanged in July, while economists expected a gain of 0.2%. The report comes as the latest reading of the consumer price index — a key metric for inflation — is set for release on Friday.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 2.93% from Wednesday’s 2.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices shed 21 cents to $66.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $1.30 to $1,219.70 U.S. an ounce.
