Equity markets opened higher on Friday as the country's two main telecoms firms made headway with their merger deal, but sentiment is expected to be downbeat on worries over "soft landing" challenges for the economy.
The TSX progressed 91.02 points to kick off the week’s last session at 20,082.90.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.15 cents to 78.20 cents U.S.
Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications finalized an agreement to sell Freedom Mobile to Videotron, a unit of Quebecor in a $2.85-billion deal.
The sale could help Rogers and Shaw clear a key anti-trust hurdle and pave the way for their $20-billion merger.
Rogers shares gained 67 cents, or 1.1%, to $59.38, while Shaw moved ahead 25 cents to $34.84.
ECN Capital met quarterly earnings expectations of nine cents per share and topped estimates on revenue. ECN shares jumped 45 cents, or 6.8%, to $7.12.
Hydro One said a barge moving a crane hit three high-voltage transmission lines causing power outage for a few hours in downtown Toronto on Thursday. Hydro One gathered 16 cents to $35.59.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange forged ahead 1.38 points to 674.40.
All 12 TSX subgroups were uniformly positive in Friday’s first hour, led by gold, up 1.8%, materials, better by 1.4%, and health-care, improving 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its fourth positive week in a row on the hope that inflation is peaking.
The Dow Jones Industrials stretched higher 150.29 points, to commence trading Friday at 33,486.96
The S&P 500 jumped 27.66 points to 4,234.93.
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 89.05 points to 12,868.96.
The S&P 500 is up 2% on the week and is on track for its longest weekly winning streak since November 2021. The Dow is up 2% for the week, while the NASDAQ Composite is 1.5% higher. For the NASDAQ, it is also the fourth positive week in a row.
Consumer sentiment data are due out later Friday.
Treasury prices moved forward, lowering yields to 2.87% from Thursday’s 2.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices wilted $1.79 to $92.55 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices revived $5.20 to $1,812.40 U.S. an ounce.
