Toronto's main stock index looked set to open slightly higher on Thursday, tracking the U.S. market, even though falling commodity prices could hold back the resource heavy index.
On a day sparing in company news, Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust said it acquired a 50% stake in two office complexes in Calgary and Edmonton for $80.7 million.
Global stocks were on track to post modest gains on Thursday, despite mixed results for an auction of Italian bonds and an uptick in U.S. jobless claims.
U.S. index futures were higher with about a half hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 24 points or 0.2%.
Futures for the broader S&P 500 were up 3.70 points or 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures chugged ahead six points, or 0.3%, to 2,265.50
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.3% and Germany's DAX index was up 0.4%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% in overnight trading.
The moves come as investors digest the latest auction of Italian 10-year government bonds, which provides an indication of the sort of appetite that investors have for these higher risk bonds.
The results were mixed: The auction raised just €7-billion worth of the bonds, below the maximum of €8.5-billion, which suggests tepid demand. However, yields fell slightly below 7%.
The United States Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose by 15,000, to 381,000, for the period ended last week. Economists had been expecting smaller gains to 375,000.
Crude prices inched up five cents to $99.47 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices faded $29.20 to $1,534.90 U.S. an ounce.
