Futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday as oil prices rose further to touch their highest since May 2015 and investors awaited a report on producer prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 61.56 points to close Wednesday at 16,371.55
The Canadian dollar pushed up 0.12 cents to 79.82 cents U.S. Thursday morning.
March futures eked up 0.1% Thursday.
BlackBerry and Chinese internet search firm Baidu Inc on Wednesday signed a deal to jointly develop self-driving vehicle technology, sending BlackBerry's Toronto-listed shares up 13% to a four-year high.
Shaw Communications’ former chief executive, Jim Shaw, died on Wednesday at the age of 60, the Canadian telecom company said in a statement.
Suncor Energy and Teck Resources have taken higher stakes in the Fort Hills oil sands mine from partner Total SA, resolving a dispute over building costs.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that its industrial product price index increased 1.4% in November, mainly attributable to higher prices for energy and petroleum products, while its raw materials price index rose 5.5%, primarily due to higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange vaulted 18.93 points, or 2.2%, to finish Wednesday at 889.97
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday ahead of several data releases.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 85 points, or 0.3%, to 24,963
S&P 500 futures gained 4.5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,715.50 while futures on the NASDAQ Composite picked up 17.5 points, or 0.3%, to 6,602
A slew of economic data is set to be released today. At 8:15 a.m. ET, the ADP national employment report was set to come out, followed by jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Services purchasing managers' index data will then come out at 9:45 a.m. ET; all before the all-important non-farm payrolls data, due out Friday.
Meanwhile, investors are likely to be digesting the latest minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee. On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank's minutes revealed that the final interest rate hike of Janet Yellen's era as Fed chair was met by a divided central bank; however, the scales are now tipped towards the more hawkish voices.
Overseas, Japanese markets returned to trading with a bang, surging 3.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.6%.
Oil prices surged 19 cents to $61.82 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices deleted five dollars to $1,313.50 U.S. an ounce.
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