The Toronto stock market was solidly ahead Thursday as Canada's main index enjoyed its fifth consecutive advance.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved forward 68.80 points to close Thursday at 14,731.08
The Canadian dollar lost 0.31 cents at 77.12 cents U.S.
Utilities were the most successful of the subgroups Thursday, as Superior Plus spiked 42 cents, or 3.3%, to $13.19, and Fortis Inc. gained $1.16, or 3.1%, to $38.36.
Tech stocks also made moves, as Sandvine Corp. gained 12 cents, or 3.3%, to $3.73, and Sierra Wireless picked up 97 cents, or 3%, to $33.89.
Health-care stocks perked, too, particularly, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which aced $5.25, or 1.7%, to $310.05.
Metals and mining lost the most of all subgroups, largely due to First Quantum Minerals’ slide of 95 cents, or 6.1%, to $14.67, while Sherritt International dropped eight cents, or 4.6%, to $1.67.
Canada's big five banks responded to Wednesday's policy rate cut by the Bank of Canada by cutting their prime rates by 0.15 of a percentage point to 2.7% Moves in the prime rate directly affect the amount charged on loans such as variable rate mortgages and floating rate lines of credit.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $5.4 billion in May, led by a divestment in equities. Meanwhile, Canadian investors added $5.6 billion of foreign securities to their portfolios, mainly corporate securities.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 3.77 points to 638.74
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher, with utilities up 2.2%, information technology better by 1.3%, and health-care improving 0.9%
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by metals and mining, off 2.5%, gold, surrendering 0.7%, and materials, sliding 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed near highs on Thursday, with the NASDAQ at a record, as investors focused on earnings beats amid progress towards near-term resolution in the Greek debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 70.08 points to 18,120.25, with Microsoft leading advancers and McDonald's the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 16.89 points to 2,124.29, with utilities leading nine sectors higher and materials the only laggard.
The NASDAQ index triumphed 62.64 points to 5,163.18, with Netflix surging 18% and eBay, Stericycle and Micron jumping more than 3%.
Corporate results after the bell Wednesday were strong. Netflix closed up more than 18% at an all-time high after reporting solid subscriber growth that topped expectations. The video streaming site also posted earnings that beat estimates on revenue that barely missed forecasts.
Intel closed 0.7% higher after initially jumping 2% on an earnings report that beat on both the top and bottom lines.
Before the market open, Citigroup continued the trend of relatively strong performance in financials so far. The bank delivered quarterly results that topped analysts' expectations on both the top and bottom lines, for the largest quarterly profit in eight years.
Goldman Sachs posted quarterly earnings that fell sharply from the previous year, hit by a large litigation charge. The investment bank did top revenue estimates but missed significantly on earnings per share.
Google, Schlumberger, Mattel, Advanced Micro, Celanese and Cintas were expected to report after the closing bell.
In economic news, U.S. weekly jobless claims came in at 281,000, better than the 285,000 estimate.
The Philadelphia Fed survey came in at 5.7 for July, off June's 15.2 read. The NAHB survey showed U.S. homebuilder sentiment hit a 10-year high.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were unchanged, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 2.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices shrank 46 cents a barrel to $50.95 U.S.
Gold prices dipped $3.70 at $1,143.70 U.S. an ounce.
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