Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre opened higher on Monday, led by energy stocks as crude oil prices rallied ahead of an OPEC meeting this week.
The S&P/TSX composite index acquired 52.19 points to begin the final session of November at 13,420.43.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.11 cents to 74.88 cents U.S.
BlackBerry says it will delay shutting down its operations in Pakistan until Dec. 30 as negotiations continue over government demands for access to users' private data.
The company formerly known as Research In Motion moved but two cents up to $10.43.
National Bank Financial raised the target price Canadian Western Bank to $26.00 from $25.00. Western shares gained 14 cents to $25.88.
National Bank Financial cut the target price on Empire Co. to $31.00 from $32.67. Empire staggered 47 cents, or 1.8%, to $26.33.
CIBC initiated coverage on Merus Labs with an outperform rating and a price target of $2.90. Merus stock surged four cents, or 2%, to $2.02.
A Reuters poll suggests that, after shocking markets with an interest rate cut at the start of the year, the Bank of Canada is expected to end 2015 by holding rates steady through next year and waiting for better U.S. growth to provide a boost.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved 2.48 points to open Monday at 524.49.
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, as health-care issues were haler by 1.6%, while energy stocks gushed 1.4%, and gold shone 1.2% brighter.
The three laggards were consumer staples, easing back 0.3%, while utilities and consumer discretionaries were each down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a range Monday, the last day of trade for November, as investors readied for key data and central bank comments later in the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average subsided 28.66 points to 17,769.83, with Microsoft leading advancers and Nike the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 was down three points to 2,087.11, with utilities leading nine sectors higher and health-care the only declining group.
The NASDAQ index folded 5.55 points to 5,121.97. The tech-driven index struggled to hold higher as Apple gained about 1% and Microsoft briefly traded more than 1% higher.
Ahead of Friday's release of the November employment report, the Chicago PMI for November came in at 48.7, down from October's 56.2 print.
The pending home sales figure for October from the National Association of Realtors rose by just 0.2%, ending two straight months of declines but far below expectations for a 1% rebound
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.22% from Friday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 69 cents a barrel to $42.40 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $5.83 to $1,063.28 U.S. an ounce.
