Stock markets in Toronto rose early Friday, tracking Wall Street, as heavyweight U.S. tech stocks gained following a plunge in the previous session that was sparked by a selloff.
The TSX got traction and climbed 131.47 points to move into noon hour Friday at 16,316.79.
The Canadian dollar changed direction and eked higher by 0.05 cents to 75.87 cents U.S.
Reports say a wave of consolidation is underway in Canada's Montney oil and gas region as small companies struggling to weather the impact of coronavirus on the energy industry sell their holdings in what just a few years ago was a booming patch.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Teck Resources, which jumped $1.99, or 12.9%, to $17.47, while Empire Company rose $1.82, or 5.1%, to $37.32
Aurora Cannabis fell 35 cents, or 3.6%, the most on the TSX, to $9.41, while the second-biggest decliner was Pason Systems, down six cents, or 1.1%, to $5.42.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 4.9 points to 737.15.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups muscled higher by lunch time, particularly industrials, surging 1.3%, while consumer staples gained 1.2%, and utilities picked up 1%.
The two laggards were health-care, withering 0.6%, and gold, hesitating 0.1%. Real-estate were unchanged by midday.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose in another volatile session on Friday as tech once again attempted to rebound from its recent slump.
The Dow Jones Industrials sprinted 162.08 points by noon to 27,696.66.
The S&P 500 acquired 11.74 points to 3,350.93.
The NASDAQ Composite nicked up 1.95 points to 10,921.54.
Shares of Facebook, Netflix, Alphabet and Microsoft were up slightly. Apple skidded 1.1%, and Amazon slid 0.4%, however. Recently, the tech sector experienced a massive pullback that saw the NASDAQ drop 10% in just three sessions, dipping into correction territory.
Peloton and Oracle jumped on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. Peloton gained more than 4% and Oracle climbed 3.6%.
Wall Street was coming off a session in which the major averages closed sharply lower after a steep downturn in tech names. The Dow and S&P 500 dropped more than 1% each on Thursday and the NASDAQ lost 2%. Those losses came after the benchmarks gave up solid gains.
The market is on track to post big losses for the holiday-shortened week. The Dow is down 1.7% this week, on pace for its worst week since June, while set for its second straight weekly loss for the first time since May. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has dropped 3.5%, and is headed for its worst week since March.
On the data front, the Consumer Price Index in the U.S. rose 0.4% on a seasonally-adjusted basis; rising 1.3% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4% in August (seasonally adjusted); up 1.7% over the year.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 0.67% from Thursday’s 0.68%. Treasury Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices revived 19 cents to $37.49 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $6.70 to $1,957.60 U.S. an ounce.
