Equities in Canada’s largest centre moved higher on Thursday, building on the previous session's gains, boosted by a rise in financial shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was off its highs of the morning, but positive 30.47 points to greet noon ET at 16,443.01,
The Canadian dollar lost 0.36 cents at 74.72 cents U.S.
RBC cut the rating on Boralex to sector perform from outperform. Shares in Boralex fell 50 cents, or 2.6%, to $18.91. The second biggest decliner was New Gold Inc, down seven cents, or 5.6%, to $1.19.
CIBC raised the price target on Cogeco Communications to $98.00 from $94.00. Cogeco shares retreated $1.05, or 1.2%, to $90.52.
Top percentage gainers on the TSX were Peyto Exploration & Development, which jumped 12 cents, or 1.8%, to $6.95, followed by a rise of 12 cents, or 1.8%, to $6.70, in Lundin Mining.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index was unchanged in February, despite growth in some of the housing markets surveyed.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell back 2.22 points to 626.87
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups were higher, as information technology clicked 1.2% better, while communications and financials each climbed 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed by health-care, sliding 1.8%, gold, down 0.9%, and materials, off 0.7%
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday as shares of Apple rolled over and Wall Street looked ahead to the start of the earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dumped 29.44 points to 26,122.72 by noon ET, as Apple slipped 0.3%.
The S&P 500 shed 2.35 points to 2,885.86
The NASDAQ Composite dipped 13.55 points to 7,950.70
Bank shares fell off their highs of the day. J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley all traded marginally higher, while Wells Fargo dipped 0.4%.
Chipotle Mexican Grill shares fell more than 1% after Jefferies downgraded them, citing a “full” valuation and a run-up that “reflects improved visibility for powerful [same-store sales] and margin drivers.”
Tesla, meanwhile, fell nearly 3% after a report said the company and Panasonic were holding off on a Gigafactory expansion. The delay, according to the Nikkei report, is due to worries that demand for Tesla vehicles is slowing down.
The Wall Street Journal reported that China agreed to open its cloud-computing sector to foreign companies in an attempt to sweeten a deal with the U.S.
This follows Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin telling reporters on Wednesday that Washington and Beijing have “pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism” for when a deal is struck.
Investors also weighed news that talks between E.U. leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May culminated in a “flexible extension ” of the U.K.’s departure from the bloc until Oct. 31.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury faltered, raising yields to 2.49% from Wednesday’s 2.47%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices backed off $1.03 to $63.58 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped $15.80 to $1,298.10 U.S. an ounce.
