Canada's main stock index rose narrowly, in the first trading day of the year on Thursday as Beijing unveiled fresh monetary stimulus and trade tensions further eased.
The TSX Composite Index remained in the green 2.49 points to greet noon Thursday at 17,065.92.
The Canadian dollar demurred 0.04 cents to 77 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Ballard Power Systems, which jumped 77 cents, or 8.3% to $10.05, and Hudbay Minerals, which rose 11 cents, or 2%, to $5.49.
Cannabis stocks were the laggards for the day. Cronos Group fell 12 cents, or 1.2%, to $9.85. The second biggest decliner was Aphria, down 26 cents, or 3.8%, to $6.52.
On the economic front, the IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index registered at 50.4 in December, down from 51.4 in the previous month.
This signaled the weakest overall manufacturing performance since August. The latest reading was only fractionally above the crucial 50 no-change mark.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 6.9 points to 583.11
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups slumped midday, as health-care went south 1.7%, real-estate retreated 0.8%, and utilities dipped 0.6%.
The five laggards were co-led by information technology, industrials and consumer discretionary, each ahead 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose to all-time highs on Thursday as the strong rally in 2019 was set to continue in the first trading day of the New Year.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 171.63 points to into the year’s first noon hour at 28,710.07
The S&P 500 gained 9.41 points to 3,240.19.
The NASDAQ bounced higher 53.07 points to 9,026.48
Chip stocks led the way on Wall Street. Advanced Micro Devices was up by 3.9% while Taiwan Semiconductor and Micron Technology both gained more than 2%. KLA took on 2%, and Intel rose 1.4%.
Semiconductor stocks surged 62% in 2019, their best one-year performance since 2003.
Tesla shares rose 1.5% after an analyst at Canaccord Genuity hiked his price target on the stock to $515 per share from $375 per share, noting 2020 will be an “electric year” for the company (the analyst’s words, not ours!)
Thursday’s gains come after Wall Street booked a strong 2019 performance on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising 28.9% in the year. That was the broad index’s biggest annual gain since 2013, when it surged 29.6%. The Dow, meanwhile, climbed 22.3% while the NASDAQ Composite skyrocketed more than 35%.
Sentiment was lifted Thursday after the People’s Bank of China lowered the amount of reserve cash the country’s banks must hold, which will put more money into the economy. This move will inject about 800 billion yuan in liquidity to the Chinese economy.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims came in at 222,000, slightly below estimates of 225,000.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury rose, dropping yields to 1.88% from Tuesday’s 1.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took off 31 cents to $60.75 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $7.20 at $1,530.30 U.S. an ounce.
