Equity markets in Toronto edged higher on Friday after hitting a near three-week low the previous session, buoyed by hopes the U.S. government will eventually break a budget impasse even as a partial shutdown entered its fourth day.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved higher 25.71 to begin Friday at 12,760.83
The Canadian dollar gained 0.05 cents to 96.85 cents U.S.
Peru's government has restarted talks with Bear Creek Mining Corp. over its stalled Santa Ana silver project and hopes work on the mine can resume, the mines minister said on Thursday. Bear Creek shares gained seven cents to $2.47
BMO raised the target price on Air Canada to $5 from $4 and National Bank Financial upped target to $4.75 from $3.75 after the company reported a strong third-quarter load factor on traffic and capacity growth. BMO shares slid six cents to $68.61
Raymond James raised the target price on Calfrac Well Services to $35.50 from $35 after the company won a three-year pumping contract in Argentina. Calfrac shares retreated 47 cents to $31.35
On the economic slate, Western University’s Ivey Purchasing Managers’ Index for September stood at 51.9. The corresponding Ivey PMI figure for August 2013 was 51.0, for September 2012, 60.4 and for September 2011, 55.7. The market call was for the PMI to register at 53.6.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched ahead 2.66 points to 946.51
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher at the outset, led by metals and mining stocks, up 0.9%, health-care, gaining 0.8%, and global base metals, ahead 0.7%.
The three laggards were information technology, down 0.5%. gold, sliding 0.4%, and industrials, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors remained cautious as the government shutdown extended to a fourth day.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 34.68 points to open at 15,031.20
The S&P 500 index regained 4.89 points to 1,683.55. The NASDAQ added 21.42 points to 3,795.76
It’s the end of a down week on Wall Street. The Dow is on track for a 1.7% drop. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are currently down less than 1%.
Shares of Facebook moved modestly higher after the company said it will start selling advertising on its photo sharing tool Instagram.
Facebook competitor Twitter made its IPO filing public late Thursday. Twitter revealed that it is still unprofitable. The company also said it will trade under the symbol TWTR, though it hasn't yet said on which exchange it will list. Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter for the IPO.
Adobe shares were lower after the company said that hackers had accessed personal data for nearly three million of its customers.
Tesla shares were modestly higher following a three-day slide that shaved more than 10% of the value off the electric car maker's high-flying stock.
The government shutdown has created plenty of uncertainty and left an estimated 800,000 federal employees waiting to go back to work.
The shutdown is also delaying the release of the government's monthly jobs report, originally scheduled to come out Friday morning. Since the recession, the report has become the most closely watched indicator on the economy.
With little else to focus on, investors will continue to watch Washington for developments on the budget deal and the looming deadline to raise the debt ceiling. Failure to raise the debt limit is likely to have a significant impact on the global economy, as well as stocks, bonds and currency markets.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dragged, raising yields to 2.64% from Thursday’s 2.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased 55 cents to $103.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $2.20 at $1,315.40 U.S. an ounce.
