Canada's main stock index rose more than 1% in morning trade on Tuesday, led by financial shares and helped by telecoms and some consumer stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index sprouted 132.02 points, or 1.1%, to greet Tuesday noon at 12,074.19
The Canadian dollar gained 0.22 cents to 68.94 cents U.S.
Banks and other financial stocks were influential, with Royal Bank of Canada up 1.1% to $67.57 and Manulife Financial Corp adding 1.1% to $18.06.
Telecoms climbed, with Rogers Communications Inc jumping 2.2% to $49.31 and BCE Inc rising 1.7% to $55.02.
Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd jumped 8.8% to $36.78 after agreeing to a reverse merger that will make it part of the third-biggest waste management company in North America.
Convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard rose 2.2% to $59.24 and car parts maker Magna International Inc gained 1.7% to
$49.32.
Potash Corp shares gained 3.4% to $23.81 after it said it would suspend operations at a New Brunswick mine, cutting more than 400 jobs.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors bought up a record $16.5 billion of foreign securities in November, most of them U.S. securities. Meanwhile, foreign investment in Canadian securities slowed to $2.6 billion, largely on lower acquisitions of Canadian bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 1.04 points Tuesday to 484.03.
All but two of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive by noon, with telecoms and information technology each climbing 2.2%, and consumer discretionaries up 1.8%.
Gold skidded 5.4%, and materials fell 2.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks struggled to hold onto gains in choppy trade Tuesday, attempting a bounce from a sharply lower start to the year as investors eyed oil and earnings reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average remained positive 61.4 points to 16,049.48. UnitedHealth, Home Depot and Goldman Sachs were among the top contributors to gains.
The S&P 500 added 11.86 points to 1,892.19, with financials leading eight advancers and materials and energy the only decliners.
The NASDAQ index hung onto gains of 3.2 points to 4,491.61.
U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Analysts also noted support for gains from encouraging Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and UnitedHealth earnings.
IBM and Netflix are among the firms due to report after market close.
In economic news, the NAHB housing index held steady at 60 in January, but from a downwardly revised December reading and off a recent high of 65 in October.
Also on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecast for 2016 to 3.4%, down from prior forecasts but up from a 3.1% forecast for 2015.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury moved lower, raising yields to 2.04% from Friday’s 2.03%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 14 cents a barrel to $29.28 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $2.78 to $1,086.90 U.S. an ounce.
