Canada’s main stock index scaled six-week highs on Thursday, led by energy shares, as investor sentiment was boosted by signals that a "phase one" U.S.-China trade deal was close to being finalized.
The TSX Composite Index increased 73.57 points to greet noon at 16,819.21
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.07 cents to 75.90 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Stantec Inc , which jumped 9.5% after quarterly results beat estimates, and Chemtrade Logis, which rose 7.5% after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from Desjardins.
Kinross Gold fell 11.2%, the most on the TSX. Semafo lost after the gold miner said five of its buses with a military escort came under fire on the road leading to its Boungou mine in the eastern region of Est in Burkina Faso.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 5.29 points at 533.34
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups remained positive, headed by energy, busting out 3.9%, communications, soaring 1.7%, and consumer discretionary stocks, better by 0.7%.
The five laggards were led by gold, slumping 3.6%, materials, sliding 1.9%. and health-care, slouching 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied to record highs on Thursday after China said the world’s two largest economies had agreed to remove existing trade tariffs, lifting expectations around a possible resolution to the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrials galloped 248.37 points noon hour to 27,740.93, as trade bellwethers Caterpillar and Boeing were both up at least 1.5%.
The S&P 500 added 17.14 points to 3,093.92, as the financials sector gained 1.1%. Energy stocks also advanced 1.4% while tech and communications services advanced 1.2% each.
The NASDAQ tacked on 63.55 points, to 8,474.18
Chip stocks such as Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Skyworks Solutions all gained more than 1%. Apple shares advanced 1.1%.
In corporate news, Booking Holdings, Disney and Activision Holdings are the companies set to report their latest quarterly figures after market close.
Qualcomm shares jumped more than 7% after reporting Wednesday quarterly results that topped analyst expectations. The company’s results were driven by strength in Qualcomm’s licensing business.
On the data front, the latest weekly jobless claims numbers came in at 211,000, down slightly from 218,000 in the previous week.
Gao Feng, a ministry spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry, said that both sides had agreed to simultaneously cancel some existing tariffs on one another’s goods, according to the country’s state broadcaster. The ministry spokesperson said that both sides were closer to a so-called "phase-one" trade agreement following constructive negotiations over the past two weeks.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell hard, raising yields to 1.95% from Wednesday’s 1.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.29 to $57.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $27.40 to $1,465.70 U.S. an ounce.
