Toronto's main stock index opened slightly higher on Thursday, helped by lower-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data and investor optimism that hefty European Central Bank loans would help ease inter-bank lending pressures.
The S&P/TSX Composite took on 15.33 points soon after the opening bell to 11,768.86
The Canadian dollar added 0.26 cents to 97.70 cents U.S.
Among stocks to focus on, Miranda Technologies had the spotlight all to itself Thursday morning, saying that several of its shareholders have opposed the proposal by JEC Capital Partners and JMB Capital Partners Master Fund to replace four of Miranda's current directors with candidates of their choice.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said average non-farm weekly earnings inched up 1.4% to $885.36 in October from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, average weekly earnings rose 2.7%.
Also, the Conference Board of Canada said early Thursday that consumer confidence has hit its lowest level in more than two and a half years. The think tank says its Index of Consumer Confidence posted a 6.5-point drop in December, bringing 2011 to a disappointing close.
The TSX Venture Exchange garnered 5.90 to 1,445.65, while the Nasdaq Canada index slid 1.13 points to 360.40
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers. Metals and mining led the winners, up 1.3%, while global base metals advanced 0.7% and energy was 0.5% to the good.
The seven laggards were weighed by gold, off 1.5%, materials, down 0.4%, and health-care, sliding 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks kicked off the session with modest gains Thursday, following a better-than-expected reading on unemployment.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 47.38 points to begin the day at 12,155.10
The S&P 500 forged higher by 6.55 points, to 1,250.27, while the Nasdaq Composite marched higher by 16.01 points to 2,593.98
Shares of Yahoo rose 2% early Thursday, following reports that the company will consider a proposal to sell its stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group. The transaction would be worth approximately $17 billion U.S. Yahoo had climbed as much as 6% after the market closed on Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, the Justice Department announced a $335-million U.S. settlement with Bank of America over discriminatory lending practices at Countrywide Financial. Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal probe found discrimination against minority borrowers who qualified for prime loans.
It's been a volatile week for the market, and swings are likely to continue as trading volume remains light going into the holidays.
Stocks ended the session mixed Wednesday. The Dow and S&P 500 barely finished in positive territory, after falling nearly 1% on fears over the health of European banks and a dour report on the housing market.
The Nasdaq trimmed some of the day's losses, but closed down 1% after most software stocks dropped dramatically, following Oracle's surprisingly weak quarterly earnings released Tuesday night.
Economically speaking, the U.S. government reported that the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits dropped to their lowest level since April 2008. There were 364,000 initial jobless claims last week, 4,000 fewer than a week earlier. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected initial claims to have risen to 380,000.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained back lost ground, pushing the yield down to 1.94% from 1.97% Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery gained 43 cents to $99.10 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery rose 20 cents to $1,612.10 U.S. an ounce.
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