Equities in Toronto poked ahead on Thursday as short-seller target Asanko Gold Inc tumbled, offsetting a rebound in the shares of Element Fleet Management Corp.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 38.95 points to open Thursday and the month of June at 15,388.86
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.02 cents at 74.11 cents U.S.
Element Fleet shares, on which trading was halted Wednesday, bolted 86 cents, or 10.1%, higher Thursday to $9.42.
Asanko disputed claims by U.S. hedge fund Muddy Waters that the Canadian company would run out of cash due to problems with its Ghana mining operations.
Asanko sank like a stone, 24 cents, or 11%, to $1.95.
Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has "met every test" in its bid to attain approval, the company said on Wednesday, responding to a vow by the British Columbia province's de facto incoming government to block the project.
Kinder shares eked up six cents to $16.15.
Eight Capital raised the target price on National Bank Of Canada to $62.00 from $60.00. National shares took on 19 cents to $53.47.
Desjardins raised the target price on CAE Inc. to $25.00 from $23.00. CAE shares inched up seven cents to $21.89.
Barclays raised the price target on Bank of Nova Scotia to $86.00 from $84.00 with an overweight rating. Scotiabank shares gained six cents to $76.28.
On the economic front, the seasonally-adjusted IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index posted 55.1 in May, down only slightly from April’s six-year peak of 55.9.
As a result, the average reading for the second quarter of 2017 so far (55.5) points to the strongest improvement in business conditions since Q1 2011. The headline index has registered above the 50.0 no-change value in each month since March 2016.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 1.75 points to 801.65
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive to begin the day, as health-care proved 1% haler, consumer staples surged 0.9%, and information clicked 0.8% higher
The two laggards were gold, down 0.7%, and materials, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded higher on Thursday, the first trading day in June, as investors parsed through key economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials gathered 24.35 points to open June’s first session at 21,033, with UnitedHealth the strongest gainer.
The S&P 500 gained 3.97 points to 2,415.77, with materials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ jumped 3.76 points to 6,202.28, and hit a record intraday high.
All three indices are coming off solid monthly performances in May. S&P and NASDAQ posted monthly gains of 1.2% and 2.5%, respectively, while the Dow rose about 0.3% on the back of a subdued volatility environment.
In corporate news, shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise slipped more than 2% after the firm reported a significant decline in quarterly sales.
Meanwhile, Marathon Petroleum approved an additional $3 billion to its shares repurchase program.
Private payrolls surged by 253,000 in May, easily topping a consensus estimate of 185,000, according to a report from ADP and Moody's Analytics.
The report from ADP and Moody's is often seen as a preview to the U.S. government's monthly non-farm payrolls report, which is set for release Friday. Entering Thursday's session, economists polled by Reuters expected the U.S. economy to have added 185,000 jobs, but JPMorgan's said it expects estimates to rise after ADP's beat.
Other data released Thursday included weekly jobless claims, which came in at 248,000, above a forecast of 239,000. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index for May came in at 54.9, just below an estimate of 55.0. April construction spending fell 1.4% with economists forecasting a gain of 0.5%
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were lower, raising yields to 2.23% from Wednesday’s 2.21%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices nicked up one cent to $48.33 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices removed eight dollars at $1,267.40 U.S. an ounce.
