Equity markets in Toronto rose on Thursday as resource issues strengthened and Bombardier rallied after winning a large plane order, while the financials group retreated.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 61.8 points to greet noon at 13,949.46
The Canadian dollar gained 0.33 cents to 79.71 cents U.S.
Some of the most influential movers on the index included gold stocks. Barrick Gold Corp rose 3.8% to $21.78, while Goldcorp was up 4.2% at $23.54 after reporting on Wednesday better-than-expected earnings.
Spot gold moved up as the Bank of Japan held off from expanding monetary stimulus, boosting the yen versus the dollar, and after the Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday that it was in no rush to tighten monetary policy.
Energy stocks gained as oil prices set new 2016 highs. Suncor Energy advanced 1.8% to $36.91.
Bombardier rose 3.5% to $2.08, having touched its highest since July 8 last year of $2.28. The company won a multi-billion-dollar order for its CSeries passenger jets from Delta Air Lines, enhancing the new planes' credibility in international markets and boosting prospects for the loss-making company to return to profitability.
Shares of BCE Inc rose 1.1% to $58.81 after the telecom and media company reported a slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit as it added more wireless customers and earned more for each one.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc rose 2.4% to $45.16. Activist investor William Ackman promised U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday he will urge the company's board to reduce the high prices of four life-saving drugs now at the heart of two congressional probes.
The financials group fell, including losses for heavyweight bank stocks. Bank of Nova Scotia fell 0.7%to $64.99, while Bank of Montreal was down 0.6% at $81.16.
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan fell 1.9% to $22.66. The world's biggest fertilizer company by capacity cut its full-year profit forecast due to weak demand and lower prices.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that average weekly earnings were $954.00 in February, up 0.3% from the previous month and up 0.4%, from 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.15 points to 661.11
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups had turned stronger by noon time, as gold shone 4.6% brighter, metals and mining gained 3.5%, and materials did better 3.1%.
The four laggards were led by information technology, missing 0.9%, while financials and health-care each faded 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mixed Thursday, shaking off bad vibes from Japan
The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative 26.5 points by noon Thursday to 18,015.05, with IBM leading decliners and GE the top advancer.
The S&P 500 poked up 2.44 points to 2,097.59, with information technology leading seven sectors higher and telecommunications the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ Composite Index muscled up 20.73 points to 4,883.88, as shares of Facebook briefly rose more than 10.5% to hit a fresh all-time high in intraday trade.
The social network reported quarterly earnings well above expectations on both the top and bottom line, helped by a sharp increase in mobile advertising revenue. The social media giant also proposed a new share structure.
Shares of Amazon.com gained more than 2% in midday trade ahead of its earnings due after the close.
In U.S. economic news, the first quarter U.S. GDP advance read was 0.5%, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2014. Consumer spending increased at a 1.9% rate, the slowest since the first quarter of 2015 and down from the fourth quarter's 2.4% rate.
U.S. weekly jobless claims were 257,000.
The Bank of Japan maintained the pace of its asset purchase program and kept steady its 0.1% negative rate it applies to some deposits. The central bank also cut its inflation forecasts and again pushed back the timing for hitting its 2% price target by six months.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 1.87% from Wednesday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices added 27 cents a barrel to $45.60 U.S.
Gold prices gained $19.03 to $1,264.86 U.S. an ounce.
