Canada's main stock index improved by noon hour on early gains Thursday, boosted by strong gains in the energy and material sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index improved 114.98 points to greet noon at 15,284.92
The Canadian dollar gained 0.1 cents at 77.48 cents U.S.
Still, the index is on track for its biggest quarterly drop in more than two years.
Markets throughout North America will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday
Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and Enbridge were among the top four boosts to the index, rising between 0.8% and 1.6%.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Methanex, which rose 3.8%, while the largest decliner was Prometic Life Sciences, down 26.6%.
Among the most active stocks by volume were Neovasc Inc, Prometic Life Sciences and Aurora Cannabis.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that gross domestic product edged down 0.1% in January, offsetting part of the 0.2% growth in December. The decline was mainly the result of lower output of non-conventional oil extraction and decreased activity in real estate.
The agency also declared that its industrial product price index edged up 0.1% in February. Widespread price increases in the major commodity groups of the IPPI were largely offset by lower energy and petroleum product prices
StatsCan’s raw materials price index fell 0.3% due to lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.59 points to 791.81
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups remained positive, with energy climbing 1.6%, while consumer discretionary and materials stocks each gaining 1.4%
The lone laggard was in information technology, down 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Thursday, the last trading day of the month and the quarter, as the technology sector curbed steep declines seen in recent sessions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average zoomed 234.27 points, or 1%, to 24,082.69, with Apple among the best-performing stocks in the index.
The S&P 500 gathered 24.13 points to 2,629.13, with tech rising nearly 2%.
The NASDAQ Composite index gained 60.56 points to 7,009.79, with Microsoft jumping 0.8% after the company announced a major reorganization.
Shares of Facebook rose more than 4%, while Apple, Netflix and Alphabet also traded higher.
However, the S&P 500 technology sector was down 6% entering Thursday's session following a slew of negative news for some of the key companies in the space. Last week, reports emerged alleging that Cambridge Analytica, an analytics company, had gathered data from 50 million Facebook profiles without users' permission. For the month, Facebook shares are down 14.2% through Wednesday.
Meanwhile, shares of Amazon tumbled Wednesday after news emerged that President Donald Trump reportedly wanted to take on the e-commerce giant, in regards to its tax treatment.
Trump then tweeted on Thursday morning: "Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" Amazon stock fell back 0.9% on the news.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were lower, raising yields to 2.75% from Wednesday’s 2.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 43 cents a barrel at $64.81 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $3.40 to $1,326.60 U.S. an ounce.
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