Toronto's main stock index looked set to open lower as weak purchasing managers’ index data from China and Europe raised global growth concerns.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed higher by 13.45 points at 12,436.16. Canada stock futures traded down 0.3%
The Canadian dollar subsided 0.53 cents Thursday morning to 102.07 cents U.S.
Nexen Inc should have an easy time getting its shareholders to approve the $15.1-billion takeover of the Canadian oil and gas producer by China's CNOOC Ltd.
Goldcorp is considering teaming up with Mexico's Fresnillo to develop a new precious metals venture in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas.
Other Canadian stocks to watch this morning included Yellow Media Inc. The company said the Quebec Supreme Court suspended all its debt-related obligations starting from Sept. 30, as it readies to consider the company's recapitalization plan next month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 20.88 points to 1,343.52.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were poised for a lower open Thursday, as disappointing reports in Asia and Europe showed that business everywhere continues to stall.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials fell 38 points, or 0.3%, to 13,459, about 30 minutes before the opening bell. Futures for the S&P 500 sidled back 6.5 points, or 0.5%, to 1,446.70, and for the Nasdaq, futures slumped 9.25 points, or 0.3%, to 2,844.25
U.S. investors began Thursday with data on first-time unemployment benefit claims, which came in at 382,000 for the week that ended Sept. 15. Although the U.S. Labor Department figure is down 3,000 from the previous week, it's still not low enough to ease worries about continued high unemployment.
On tap later in the morning will be a monthly regional business outlook survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. There is hope this report will be positive and counteract the ill-received manufacturing survey released earlier this week by New York's Fed branch.
At the moment, investors appear fearful of doing much with stocks as they try to get a handle on where the economy is headed. Recent actions by central banks around the world have fueled these concerns.
An HSBC report on Chinese manufacturing, its preliminary purchasing manager's index, showed that manufacturing in the world's second largest economy ticked up slightly in September but still contracted. Asian markets responded by closing in the red, with the Shanghai Composite losing 2.1%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shedding 1.2% and Japan's Nikkei dropping 1.6%.
It was similar in Europe, where Markit's regional purchasing managers index fell to a 39-month low. It showed the fastest contraction of new business and services in more than three years, and European stocks all dropped in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.7%, the DAX in Germany dropped 0.5% and France's CAC 40 fell 1%.
Oil for October delivery fell 89 cents to $91.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $9.30 to $1,762.40 U.S. an ounce.
