Futures pointed to a slightly higher opening for Canadian stocks on Friday as investors reacted to the annual inflation and January retail data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index amassed 143.17 points, or 1.1%, on Thursday to 13,621.30. June futures inched up 0.2% Friday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.12 cents to 77.13 cents U.S. early Friday.
BRP Inc, the maker of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Sea-Doo watercraft, swung to a quarterly loss, hurt by a $70-million impairment charge on its outboard engine assets.
Paramount Resources agreed on Thursday to sell a natural gas processing complex in the Montney shale formation in Alberta to Pembina Pipeline Corp for $556 million in cash.
Dundee raised the target price on Silver Wheaton to $28.00 from $25.00
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 1.4% in the 12 months to February, after increasing 2.0% in January. Monthly inflation dropped 0.2% in February, following a 0.2% increase in January.
Retail sales rose 2.1% to $44.2 billion in January, led by five sub-sectors that rebounded from lower sales in December. Gains were reported in seven of 11 sub-sectors, representing 82% of total retail sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.8 points to close Thursday at 579.2
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are holding steady after the Dow turned positive for the year so far.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials moved higher 43 points, or 0.3%, to 17,428, futures for the S&P 500 picked up 5.5 points, or 0.3%, to 2,035.75. NASDAQ futures gained 9.25 points, or 0.2%, to 4,402.25
Shares in Adobe were shooting up in extended trading after the company posted a well-received earnings update Thursday afternoon.
The biggest name reporting earnings on Friday is jewelry whiz Tiffany & Co, which is reporting before the opening bell.
European markets are trending higher in early trading.
Asian markets ended the day in positive territory, except the Nikkei 225 in Japan which dropped by 1.3%.
Oil prices hiked 74 cents to $40.94 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices settled $8.13 to $1,249.84 U.S. an ounce.
