Stocks in Toronto began Thursday’s session with moderate gains, as investors digested news of a credit easing in China and waited for word from America’s central banker.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 23.37 points to open at 11,656.77
The Canadian dollar strengthened another 0.49 of a cent to 97.83 cents U.S.
Australia's competition regulator approved a friendly takeover bid by Swiss commodities trader Glencore International Plc of Viterra Inc., clearing another hurdle for the biggest deal in years in the global agricultural sector.
Enbridge Inc. shut down a key supply line for Canadian crude shipments to U.S. refineries on Wednesday but said the outage was expected to be short in duration and have little impact on deliveries.
Harry Winston Diamond Corp. said its quarterly profit more than tripled as it sold more rough diamonds, and the company said it expects global demand for luxury jewelry and watches to rise.
Elsewhere, Air Canada said on Wednesday that its COO will take early retirement this fall, as the country's largest airline pursues plans to launch a low-cost carrier.
Barrick Gold’s surprising ouster of CEO Aaron Regent on Wednesday raised more questions than it answered for anxious investors, who are left wondering why the world's top gold miner would axe its CEO just a month after singing his praises.
Negotiators for Husky Energy and the United Steelworkers union met on Wednesday without reaching an agreement to end a 13-day strike at the company's 155,000 barrel per day Lima, Ohio, refinery.
North American Energy Partners Inc. reported a narrower quarterly loss as its piling segment benefited from robust demand due to recovery in commercial and industrial construction markets.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.72 points to 1,308.36. The Nasdaq Canada index tacked on 12.10 points to 368.08
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive to begin the day, as metals and mining issues chugged ahead 4.5%. Global base metals tacked on 2.8%, and energy stocks soared 1.5%.
The two laggards were in gold, down 2.1%, and materials, fading 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday, extending gains from the previous day, after a surprise rate cut by China's central bank and a successful bond auction by Spain cheered investors around the globe.
Investors are also looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional testimony, and showed little reaction to a jobless claims report that was close to expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrials strengthened 92.18 points to 12,506.97
The S&P 500 was 7.12 points higher to 1,322.25. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 8.96 points to 2,853.68
Yoga clothing retailer Lululemon Athletic plunged after releasing a weak outlook along with its first quarter results.
Food producer J.P. Smucker reported that operating earnings per share rose 10 cents to $1.10 U.S., better than the drop of one cent per share forecast by analysts.
Nasdaq OX Group, which operates the Nasdaq stock exchange, announced its plans to spend $40 million U.S. to compensate trading firms for losses caused by glitches that delayed Face book's debut. Later in the day, Nasdaq CEO Bob Reified apologized for the problems but said affected investors should talk to their brokers.
Korean electronics maker Samsung named a new chairman Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company also intends to launch its new smart phone as planned, despite Apple seeking an injunction against its sales as part of its patent infringement lawsuit.
Shares of Apple edged higher, while Samsung shares closed up 5% in trading in South Korea.
China's central bank cut its range of lending and deposit rates by a quarter percentage point in an effort to address the slowdown in the nation's manufacturing sector. Its key one-year lending rate fell to 6.31%.
While there had been growing hopes for action by the Chinese government to stimulate the economy, the timing of Thursday's announcement was a surprise.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government held a bond auction that was an important test of its ability to raise money from investors, two days after its treasury minister warned the country was at risk of being shut out of financial markets.
Demand was more than three times the €611 million worth of 10-year bonds that Spain offered, up from a bid-to-offer ratio of 2.42 in April. But the interest rate Spain had to pay to sell the debt rose to 6.044% from 5.743% in April.
The yield for Spain's 10-year debt edged slightly lower to 6.16% in trading following the auction.
Spanish bond yields have been rising recently as investors demand an increasingly high risk premium to lend money to the government. Fears are growing that the country will need to be bailed out if it can't come up with a way to re-capitalize its banking sector, which some estimates put at a cost of up to €100 billion.
Back in the United States, Bernanke is testifying today on the economy before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
Observers will look for clues as to whether the Fed might extend its Operation Twist program or, in a move that would be even more drastic, launch a third round of asset purchases known as quantitative easing.
Economically speaking, first-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 377,000 in the week ended June 2, the U.S. Labor Department said. That's 2,000 more than the consensus forecast, but was down 12,000 from the prior week.
A new report on consumer credit will be released at 3 p.m. ET. Consumer credit for April is expected to have increased by $12.7 billion U.S.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell a peg, raising yields to 1.67% from Wednesday’s 1.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil hiked $1.61 to $86.65 U.S.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $10.30 to $1,623.90 U.S. an ounce.
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