Toronto stock markets confounded some of the experts and gained some traction on Thursday, drawing strength from robust Chinese economic data that boosted global markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index reacquired 63.98 points to begin Thursday at 12,476.71
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.39 cents to 96.32 cents U.S.
BCE Inc reported a 22% fall in profit but a marginal increase in revenue, with strong growth in wireless. BCE shares retreated 40 cents to $42.15
Quebecor Inc reported a 15% rise in quarterly profit, mainly due to growth at its telecommunications business, but total revenue rose less than 1%. Quebecor shares took on 13 cents to $46.98
Tim Hortons Inc. reported a 14% rise in second-quarter profit, and said it would increase its share buyback by $900 million. Tim shares gathered 44 cents to $59.93
Agrium Inc reported a fall in quarterly profit due to an unusually cold spring in North America, but said it expected strong demand for crop inputs for the rest of the year. Agrium shares grew $2.88 to $89.35.
Manulife Financial Corp reported a second-quarter profit, just missing analysts' estimates, as it absorbed a smaller loss from financial market movements. Manulife shares hiked 10 cents to $18.14.
Surprisingly firm rebounds in China's exports and imports in July offered some hope that the world's second-largest economy might be stabilizing after more than two years of slowing growth, although an imminent rebound still looks unlikely.
On the domestic economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported that new housing prices rose 0.2% in June, following a 0.1% increase in May. This continued a series of similar gains over the past 15 months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.07 points to open Thursday at 910.20
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher to begin the session, led by a 5.1% spike in metals and mining stocks, while gold hiked 3.1% and materials gained 3%.
The four laggards were weighed by utilities, down 0.5%, telecoms, off 0.3% and energy, fading 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rebounded modestly at the open Thursday, following three days of declines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched forward 5.51 points to begin the session at 15,476.20
The S&P 500 index restored 5.70 points to 1,696.61. The NASDAQ was better by only 0.59 points to 3,654.60
Investors were cheered by some strong quarterly earnings as the reporting season winds down.
Groupon surged after the daily deals site posted strong sales and announced a $300-million U.S. share-buyback program.
Tesla shares surged after the electric-car maker reported a surprise quarterly profit. Tesla Model S also got the top crash test rating from the government.
Solar City, which is chaired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, reported a wider loss than analysts had expected.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters shares fell following quarterly sales figures that missed expectations.
T-Mobile topped revenue forecasts and said it had a net addition of 1.1 million customers during the quarter. Apollo Global Management swung to a quarterly profit and Priceline.com is up after the close.
On the economic front, strong corporate results and a better-than-expected report from the U.S. Labor Department were helping give markets a lift.
The department said jobless claims rose by 5,000 last week to 333,000, slightly lower than expected.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury inched higher, lowering yields to 2.59% from Wednesday’s 2.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell back 90 cents to $103.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sprang forward six dollars to $1,291.30 U.S. an ounce.
