Markets in Toronto opened slightly higher on Thursday, as world economies showed signs of recovery.
The S&P/TSX composite gained 10.48 points to start trading on Thursday at 12,433.39
The Canadian dollar took on 0.17 cents to 100.16 cents U.S.
TransCanada Corp said its Mexican subsidiary has been awarded the contract to build, own and operate the El Encino-to-Topolobampo Pipeline by Comision Federal de Electricidad, Mexico's federal power company. Shares in TransCanada took on 20 cents to $45.17
Uranium whiz Cameco Corp. Wednesday lowered its long-term uranium production target by 10%, a sharp shift in strategy in response to slower demand growth for the fuel after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Cameco shares $1.22, or 6.3%, to $18.15
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. reported a 15% rise in third-quarter profit, helped by higher copper and gold sales. Shares faded 46 cents to $21.99
Kinross Gold Corp. said on Wednesday it has hired a new CFO just three months after replacing its CEO. Shares erased three cents to $9.89
Business software company Open Text Corp. said its adjusted quarterly profit handily beat estimates, as its expansion into cloud computing services began to pay off, although revenue from licenses fell short of its expectations. Shares dropped $1.58, or nearly 3%, to $52.10.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gathered 2.94 points to 1,317.42
All but three of 14 Toronto subgroups were higher to begin the day, led by health-care, up 1.6%, global base metals, surging 1.3%, and the metals and mining group, progressing 0.8%.
The three laggards were gold, off 1.6%, materials, down 0.7%, and telecoms, down 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose modestly at the open Thursday on mostly upbeat jobs reports, as Wall Street continues to recover from the two-day suspension of trading due to Superstorm Sandy.
The Dow Jones Industrials screamed higher 144.68 points, or 1.1%, to 13,241.10, while the S&P 500 moved higher by 10.76 to 1,422.92, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 34.26 at 3,011.49
Exxon Mobil reported better-than-expected earnings in the morning, while AIG Starbucks , and LinkedIn are among the firms due to report after the closing bell.
Netflix shares retreated after a massive 14% runup Wednesday. The gains came after famed corporate raider Carl Icahn disclosed he bought a 10% stake in Netflix, and strongly hinted he'd like a larger company to buy the streaming video and DVD service.
Japan-based Panasonic released an earnings report Thursday that was loaded with unfavourable news. The electronics company posted a loss, dramatically lowered its forecast for the year, and announced it will suspend its dividend. Business conditions are expected to become "much more severe."
Also in Japan, Sony reported a narrower loss for its fiscal second quarter and reaffirmed its full-year forecast for a swing to profit. Its U.S.-traded stock gained ground.
Shares of Ford rose slightly after the company announced that Alan Mulally would remain president and CEO through at least 2014, and named Mark Fields as chief operating officer.
The gains came as investors parsed through a bevy of corporate and economic news, including planned job cuts, private sector job gains and initial unemployment claims. Those numbers are all a prelude to the government's monthly jobs report on Friday.
While outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported the number of planned job cuts surged to a five-month high in October, two other reports were positive.
Payroll processor ADP said U.S. private-sector employers added 158,000 jobs in October, which was above expectations, and weekly initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 363.000 last week, coming in lower than forecasts.
The other reports on tap for Thursday span a wide variety of economic sectors: manufacturing, consumer confidence, construction spending and auto sales.
Overseas, China's government reported earlier in the day that its official purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.2 in October from 49.8 the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates that factory conditions are improving in the manufacturing sector.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising the yield to 1.71% from Wednesday’s 1.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back three cents to $86.21 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.40 per ounce to $1,720.50 U.S.
