The Toronto stock market registered a small gain Thursday amid a relatively quiet session with U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P/TSX composite index finished 8.77 points to end Thursday at 13,370.83
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.08 cents to 94.46 cents U.S.
A major gainer was Halifax-based DHX Media Ltd, whose stock soared $1.05, or 25.2%, to $5.22 after it said it would pay about $170 million in cash to buy several children's specialty TV channels, including Family, under a proposed deal with Bell Media, whose parent company, BCE Inc., rose 24 cents to $46.91.
The metals and mining component led advanced, while March copper was up one cent at $3.20 U.S. in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
First Quantum Minerals climbed 64 cents to $17.92 while Teck Resources was ahead 67 cents to $25.91.
The gold sector rose as December bullion climbed $6.50 to $1,244.40 U.S.
Iamgold improved by 13 cents to $4.54.
The consumer staples sector was also supportive as shares in convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard ran ahead $1.21 to $78.00 after earlier hitting a new 52-week high of $79.18.
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, which would value Warrnambool at AU$532 million.
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. Saputo shares were up 38 cents to $48.66.
Energy stocks were also off the best levels of the day with the sector up slightly as the January crude contract fell 13 cents to a six-month low of $92.17 U.S.
The interest rate sensitive utilities sector continued to be a drag on the TSX with Atlantic Power unchanged at $3.85.
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 dropped 2.86 points to 926.67
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, led by metals and mining, stronger by 2.4%, materials up 1%, and global base metals, progressing 0.7%.
The two laggards were utilities, shedding 0.3%, and financials, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. markets are closed today for Thanksgiving and will shut at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.
