Equities in Canada’s biggest centre rebounded on Thursday, lifted in part by a general upbeat tone among investors and higher crude prices that bolstered energy stocks for the third straight session.
The S&P/TSX composite index triumphed 135.24 points to greet noon at 15,208.07
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.07 cents to 81.98 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International was by far the most influential individual gainer on the index, rising 2% to $284.20. The company is in talks to buy Egyptian drugmaker Amoun Pharmaceutical Co, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.
Other influential movers on the index included Enbridge Inc , which rose 1.7% to $62.12, and Canadian Natural Resources, which advanced 1.7% to $38.59.
The tech sector was in the red, dragged more than 2% lower by Open Text Corp's 12.7% decline to $52.16 after the company gave a lower-than-expected outlook.
Meanwhile, Shopify Inc shares surged on its first day of trading in Toronto and New York. The Canadian e-commerce software maker priced its initial public offering at $17 a share and the stock rose to a high of $35.03 in Toronto and touched a high of $28.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Other influential advancers include Royal Bank of Canada , which rose 0.9% to $80.34 and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, which was up 2% to $216.27.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said the number of Canadians drawing employment insurance in March, totaled 517,900 people, up 5,900, or 1.1%, from February. Compared with March 2014, the number of EI beneficiaries rose 2,600, the first year-over-year increase since February 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.05 points to 698.74
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were moving upwards, led by energy, gushing 2.2%, financials, better by 0.9%, and industrials, improving 0.8%.
The five laggards were co-weighed by information technology and the metals and mining group, each down 1.8%, while gold dulled 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Thursday as investors digested mixed economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials eked up 14.65 points to 18,300.05, with Caterpillar leading gains and Microsoft and McDonald's the greatest laggards.
The S&P 500 index recovered 5.26 points to 2,131.11, with energy leading seven sectors higher and utilities the greatest decliner.
The NASDAQ regained 14.16 points to 5,085.90, as Apple and Amazon gained.
Earnings expected on Thursday after the bell include Hewlett-Packard, Gap and Intuit.
Best Buy reported adjusted quarterly profit of 37 cents U.S. per share, eight cents above estimates, with revenue beating forecasts, as well. Comparable-store sales were up 0.6%, compared to consensus estimates of a 0.1% increase
Hewlett-Packard is selling 51% of its China-based data networking operation to China's Tsinghua Holdings.
Salesforce beat estimates by two cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 16 cents U.S. per share, while revenue was in line with forecasts. The business software provider also increased its full-year forecast on increased subscription and services revenue.
Amazon.com briefly jumped more than 3% following the announcement that Amazon Prime Now is offering one-hour delivery from local stores In New York's Manhattan, including groceries, meals, and baked goods.
Shake Shack surged more than 7.5% on a trademark filing that indicated the burger chain might be adding chicken to its menu.
Existing home sales for April fell 3.3%, missing an expected 1% gain to 5.24 million units. Earlier in the week, reports showed home builder sentiment fell in May, but housing starts for April came in much better than expected.
Manufacturing PMI came in at 53.8 for May, below expectations of 54.5. The initial read showed slowing growth for the second straight month, with new orders increasing at their slowest pace since January last year, financial research firm Markit said.
The Conference Board's leading indicator index, which forecasts future economic activity, for April showed a gain of 0.7%. The index was expected to register the 15th consecutive increase, given a decline in initial unemployment claims.
Weekly jobless claims came in at 274,000, above expectations of an increase to 271,000 from the prior week's 264,000. The four-week moving average remains the lowest since April 2000.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.22% from Wednesday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices spiked $1.81 a barrel to $60.79 U.S.
Gold prices erased $3.70 to $1,205 U.S. an ounce.
