Stock futures pointed to a slightly higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Wednesday as oil jumped to the highest level in eight months, buoyed by ongoing supply disruptions in Nigeria and strong Chinese oil demand data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index strengthened 89.45 points to close Tuesday at 14,365.61, its highest close since August 11.
June futures crept up 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.34 cents to 78.85 cents early Thursday
Suncor Energy Inc said it would raise $2.5 billion through the sale of new shares to enable it to increase its stake in its Syncrude oil sands joint venture and to fund other possible acquisitions.
Raymond James cut the price target on Suncor to $42.00 from $43.00
Paradigm Capital raised the target price on Parex Resources to $15.50 from $14.00
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that building permits issued by municipalities edged down 0.3% to $6.9 billion in April.
This marked the second consecutive monthly decline and was largely the result of lower construction intentions in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 188,570 units last month from a downwardly revised 191,388 in April. May's figure was short of economists' expectations for 190,000.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.57 points Tuesday to 701.02
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are mostly flat Wednesday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 31 points, or 0.2%, to 17,964, while futures for the S&P 500 perked 3.25 points, or 0.2%, to 2,113.50. NASDAQ futures gained 7.25 points, or 0.2% to 4,521.50.
Penny stock Gevo is soaring pre-market after gaining 77% in the last five days. The Colorado-based company said the first two commercial flights using its renewable alcohol-based jet fuel took place on Tuesday.
Shares in Samsung SDI rose late Tuesday after reports said the company was in talks with Tesla to supply batteries for its new mass market Model 3. But the stock plunged 8% Wednesday after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla was working exclusively with Panasonic for Model 3 cells. Panasonic shares rose 3.6%.
Lululemon Athletica is reporting ahead of the open. The yoga apparel maker is having a pretty good year, with the stock is up nearly 30%.
Comtech Telecomunication, Oil-Dri Corporation of America and ABM Industries report after the closing bell.
The U.S. Department of Energy will post its update to U.S. crude inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET.
European markets are declining in early trading, while Asian markets ended the session mixed.
The European Central Bank starts its corporate bond buying program on Wednesday, announced as part of its huge stimulus program back in March.
Japan revised its first quarter annualized GDP growth up to 1.9%, from 1.7%. The first reading was stronger than many economists had expected and ensured the country avoided slipping into recession.
Oil prices took on 66 cents to $51.02 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices increased $12.89 to $1,256.70 U.S. an ounce.
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