The Toronto stock market was set for a sharply lower open Friday as prices for oil and copper declined.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained positive 13.94 points to conclude Thursday at 12,746.55
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.2 cents to 96.92 cents U.S. early Friday.
New Gold Inc. has reached a friendly deal to acquire Rainy River Resources Ltd., which has an advanced gold project in Ontario. The
offer values Rainy River at about $310 million, net of its cash balance.
New Gold is offering $3.83 per share, which is than 40% above the recent market price.
Canadian National Railway will also be in focus after JPMorgan Chase upgraded its stock to neutral from underweight with a target price of $110. The stock closed Thursday at $105.96, up 30 per cent from its 52-week low.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada said Canada’s Gross Domestic Product grew 0.2% in March, and on a quarterly basis by 0.6%, the fastest pace in six quarters, bolstered by a 1.5% increase in exports.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved 7.03 points higher Thursday to 960.74
ON WALLSTREET
Barring a massive selloff Friday, the major U.S. indexes will end the month with solid gains. So far this month, they're up between 3% and 4%, bringing their advance for the year to a hefty 16%.
Futures for the Dow Industrials, however, ducked back 77 points, or 0.5%, to 15,242. Futures for the S&P 500 lost 7.6 points, or 0.5%, to 1,646, and futures for the NASDAQ dipped 15 points, or 0.5%, to 2,995.
In corporate news, Nasdaq said Netflix will join the NASDAQ-100 on June 6, replacing healthcare supplier Perrigo
Investors close out the week awaiting a handful of economic reports, including data on personal income and spending due from the Commerce Department.
Income and spending are both expected to have edged up slightly in April, according to the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The latest edition of the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index will be released this morning., followed closely by a report on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters.
European markets took a tumble in midday trading. Benchmark indexes in France, Germany and the United Kingdom were all off by roughly 1%.
Asian markets ended the week with mixed results. The Nikkei 225 advanced by 1.4%, rebounding from Thursday's steep decline brought on by mounting concerns over the country's economic turnaround plan.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped by 0.4% while the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.7%.
Oil prices gave back 82 cents to $92.79 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell $5.30 to $1,406.20 U.S.
