Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Friday as oil prices rose, led by a fall in the U.S. dollar.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 79.39 points to end Thursday at 15,407.66
The Canadian dollar fell 0.18 cents to 79.93 cents U.S. Friday morning.
March futures move up 0.1% Friday.
Markets on both sides of the border will be taking Monday off, the U.S. for Presidents Day, Canada for Family Day
Air Canada reported a quarterly profit compared with a loss a year earlier, when the company took a charge of $91 million related to pension funds.
The National Energy Board on Thursday issued rulings that allow Kinder Morgan Canada to do additional construction work on an oil pipeline expansion that is fiercely opposed by the province of British Columbia.
Barclays raised the target price on Canadian Tire Corp to $187 from $180
RBC raised the target price on Constellation Software to $950 from $900
CIBC raised the price target on TransCanada Corp. to $77 from $76
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined 0.3% to $55.5 billion in December, following a revised increase of 3.8% in November. The decline was mainly the result of lower sales in the petroleum and coal products industry and the food manufacturing industry.
Canadian investors acquired a record $22.0 billion of foreign securities in December, mainly foreign shares. Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $2.0 billion, led by a divestment in Canadian bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.97 points to end Thursday at 834.20
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock index futures posted solid gains ahead of Friday's open, lifted by positive sentiment in domestic and international markets.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 32 points, or 0.1%, to 25,266
S&P 500 futures moved up 3.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,737.50 while futures on the NASDAQ Composite climbing 9.25 points, or 0.1%, at 6,825.25.
Deere & Company is among the companies declaring earnings today.
A slew of economic data and earnings are due to be released Friday. At 8:30 a.m. ET, housing starts and building permits, import prices and the Business Leaders Survey were all schedule to be published. Consumer sentiment and the Quarterly Services Survey are set to come out at 10 a.m. ET.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.2%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was shuttered for the Lunar New Year
Oil prices gained 18 cents to $61.52 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices improved four dollars to $1,359.30 U.S. an ounce.
