Equity markets in Toronto looked set to start Thursday’s session little changed in what could be a quiet session with U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P/TSX composite index improved 12.29 points to end Wednesday at 13,362.06.
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.08 cents to 94.46 cents U.S. early Thursday
On the corporate front, the bidding battle for Australia’s Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co. continued Thursday. Murray Goulburn, Australia’s largest dairy exporter, has increased its offer for Warrnambool to AU$9.50 a share in cash.
MG's chief rival is Canada’s Saputo Inc., which announced Monday that it would pay AU$9.20 per share if receives more than half of Warrnambool’s shares or AU$9 per share if it doesn’t get a majority.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its industrial product price index sagged 0.3% during October, mainly because of lower prices for petroleum and coal products, while its raw materials price index dipped 2.3% during the same month, weighed by mineral fuels.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched ahead 0.93 points Wednesday to 929.53
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. markets are closed today for Thanksgiving and will shut at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.
European bourses were also higher with London's FTSE 100 index ahead 0.09 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.33 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 was only mildly ahead.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 finished at its highest since early December 2007 after advancing 1.8% The benchmark’s surge has been driven by the Japanese currency’s slump to its lowest in half a year as traders bet on more monetary easing from the central bank as it tries to revive the world’s third biggest economy.
Most other Asian benchmarks also finished higher, taking their lead from U.S. indexes, which hit record highs again Wednesday thanks to a string of positive economic and earnings reports.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.8% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up less than 0.1%.
