Stocks in Toronto plumbed lows, but then rallied on Thursday, as a rally in crude oil prices helped support energy stocks, while losses were unwound for financial stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index leapt 165.49 points, or 1.4%, to wrap up trading Thursday at 12,335.90
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.09 cents to 69.62 cents U.S.
Before Thursday’s close, the TSX had fallen 6% in the first two weeks of 2016 as a deep slump in oil prices weighed on the resource-linked market. The index fell 11% during 2015, its worst year since the global financial crisis of 2008
Triumphant among the battered energy sector were issues such as Canadian Natural Resources, up $1.16 , or 4.6%, to $25.88, while MEG Energy took on 22 cents, or 4.4%, to $5.21, and Suncor Energy climbed $1.06, or 3.4%, to $32.39.
Health-care shares also made headway, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals jumping $6.22, or 5.1%, to $128.91.
Among consumer staples, AGT Food and Ingredients hiked $2.17, or 6.4%, to $36.03, while grocer Metro took on 79 cents, or 2%, to $39.47.
Gold stocks sank, most notably, Barrick, down 65 cents, or 5.6% to $10.88, while Goldcorp proved a dollar, or 6.3%, to the bad at $14.99.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said its New Housing Price Index rose 0.2% in November, following a 0.3% increase in October. November’s gain was mostly due to higher prices in the combined region of Toronto and Oshawa as well as Greater Vancouver.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.35 points to 495.37.
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher as energy gushed 4.3%, health-care, up 2.5%, and consumer staples, rallying 2.3%
The two laggards were gold, off 3.6%, and materials, down 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply higher Thursday, attempting to stabilize after a steep selloff, helped by some recovery in oil prices and comments from Federal Reserve policymakers.
The Dow Jones industrial average leaped 227.64 points, or 1.4%, to 16,379.05, after a plummet Wednesday of more than 300 points. Chevron and Exxon Mobil contributed the most to gains.
The S&P 500 gained 31.84 points, or 1.7%, to 1,922.12, topping the psychologically key level of 1,900 in intraday trade as energy rose more than 5% to lead all sectors higher. Energy is down more than 20% over the last 12 months.
The NASDAQ index recouped 88.94 points, or 2%, to 4,615, as Apple traded more than 2% higher.
Also supporting gains was a rally in shares of JPMorgan Chase after the banking behemoth reported net income of $5.4 billion U.S, and earnings per share of $1.32, on revenue of $23.7 billion U.S, beating estimates.
Economically speaking, weekly U.S. jobless claims rose to 284,000. December import prices fell 1.2%, for a sixth-straight month of declines as the cost of petroleum and a range of other goods fell further, suggesting a tame inflation environment could persist in the near term.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slumped, raising yields to 2.09% from Wednesday’s 2.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices surged 68 cents a barrel to $31.16 U.S.
Gold prices retreated $15.76 to $1,077.83 U.S. an ounce.
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