Equities in Canada’s largest market were marginally ahead Friday, led by tech and energy shares as oil prices gained and after TransCanada Corp said the U.S. Department of State issued a presidential permit for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 24.82 points to open Friday trading at 15,458.43
The Canadian dollar shed 0.07 cents at 74.84 cents U.S.
TransCanada, for its part, vaulted 68 cents, or 1.1%, to $62.44.
BRP Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, helped by strong demand for its snowmobiles, watercraft and other recreational vehicles.
BRP opened Friday at $29.61, sprouting 90 cents, or 3.1%, from Thursday.
Uber Canada on Thursday urged the federal government to retain a tax advantage available to ride-services companies, a day after the Liberal budget proposed removing the measure.
CIBC cut the target price on Detour Gold Corp. to $17.00 from $21.00
Detour shares acquired 20 cents, or 1.3%, to $15.17.
BlackBerry shares increased in price nine cents, or nearly 1%, to $9.57.
Real-Estate shares such as Brookfield Asset Management jumped 24 cents to $47.81
In the consumer discretionary area, Canadian Tire traded static from Thursday at $207.43.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported that February’s consumer price index rose 2.0% on a year-over-year basis in February, following a 2.1% gain in January.
Excluding gasoline, the CPI was up 1.3% year over year in February, following a 1.5% increase in January.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.41 points to 800.95
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the early going, as information technology sprang up 0.6%, real-estate built 0.5% higher, and consumer discretionary issues were 0.4% stronger.
The three laggards were gold, down 0.3%, materials, sliding 0.2%, and financials, off 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities kicked off Friday trading higher as investors remained mostly on hold ahead of the House's vote on the American Health Care Act.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 32.7 points to begin Friday at 20,689.26, with Goldman Sachs and UnitedHealth Group contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 picked up 5.9 points to 2,351.86, with information technology and financials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ added 29.49 points to 5,847.18. Still, the major indexes were on track for weekly losses.
The vote, which was originally set for Thursday, was delayed after Republicans failed to secure enough support for the bill. But given as President Donald Trump is said to be finished negotiating, the House is now slated to vote sometime Friday, and it is crucial for the Trump agenda.
Trump has said the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must happen before action can be taken on his other plans, including a major tax reduction.
In economic news, durable goods orders rose 1.7% in February, above the expected increase of 1.2%. The latest manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Indexes were also due this morning.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.42%.
Oil prices regained 16 cents to $47.86 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices sank $1.60 at $1,245.60 U.S. an ounce.
