Canadian stocks were moderately higher for a fifth straight session Thursday amid light volume as traders prepare for the long holiday weekend.
The S&P/TSX Composite index added 95.91 points to end an abbreviated session at 11,754.61. The market closed at 1 p.m. ET and would remain closed until Tuesday.
Gold stocks were up as the metal moved above $1,100 per ounce. Goldcorp Inc. said it has matched Minera Penmont's offer to acquire Canplats Resources for $4.40 per share in a cash and stock deal. Goldcorp shares ended the day up 1.4% at $42.73, while Canplats issues were up 2.3% at $4.96.
Consumer staples stocks were up. Maple Leaf Foods added 3.8% to $11.83 to lead the way. Consumer discretionary stocks were up ahead of Boxing Day, traditionally the biggest day of the year for Canadian retailers.
Health-care stocks were down, giving back some recent gains. The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to pass sweeping legislation to reform the health-care system in America. MDS dropped 1.1% to $7.87 and CML Healthcare Income Fund was flat at $13.84.
Nuinsco Resources rallied 7.1% at 7.5 cents after the company announced the closing of a further tranche of its non-brokered private placement, having sold an aggregate of 11.11 million Flow-Through Units were sold for gross proceeds of nearly $1 million to the MineralFields Group.
Priszm Income Fund rallied 7.9% to 96 cents after the company announced that it has sold its food processing facility located in Toronto for gross proceeds of $11.5 million.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.14 cents at 95.24 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher, led by real-estate, ahead 1.8%, financials and global base metal stocks, each 0.9% higher.
The lone laggard was the health-care group, down only 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 18.93 points to 1,469.58, while the Nasdaq Canada index subsided 5.01 points to 726.32.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks ended a holiday-shortened session higher Thursday, with indexes climbing to new highs for the year after upbeat reports on the labor market and durable goods orders fueled optimism about the economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrials was up 53.66 points to 10,520.10, while the broader S&P 500 was up 5.89 points to 1,126.48, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 16.05 points to 2,285.69.
Stocks have risen for five days, and all three indexes posted gains for the week.
Thursday's advance came after the government said the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment fell more than expected last week. A separate report showed orders for durable goods outside of the transportation sector surged last month.
Economically speaking, the Commerce Department released its report on durable goods orders, showing a gain of 0.2% in November which fell short of market expectations. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had projected that new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose 0.4% in November after a decline of 0.6% the previous month.
Excluding transportation, durable goods orders still rose 0.2%, falling short of the 1% rise expected by Briefing.com consensus.
The government's weekly jobless claims report also came in Thursday morning. The government announced that 452,000 claims were filed in the week ended Dec. 19. Economists had expected the number of first-time filers to fall to 470,000 from the previous week's 480,000 new claims.
The stock exchange closed at 1 p.m. ET Thursday and would remain dark Friday.
Treasury prices were lower, raising yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.80% from Tuesday and Wednesday’s 3.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained 71 cents to $77.38 U.S.
Gold prices gained $11 to $1,105 an ounce U.S.
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