Markets in Toronto struggled but came out ahead at the closing bell on Thursday, as tech strength overcame doddering by energy issues.
The TSX Composite gained 4.3 points to end Thursday at 20,278.51.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.03 cents at 73.54 cents U.S.
Techs provided what little strength they could, with Bitfarms climbing 21 cents, or 7.8%, to $2.91, while Dye & Durham claimed 62 cents, or 4.9%, to $13.36.
In utilities, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners moved ahead 98 cents, or 2.6%, to $38.25, while Altagas jumped 46 cents, or 1.7%, to $28.42.
Communications were positive as well, with TELUS taking on 19 cents to $25.77, while Quebecor eked up four cents to $31.14.
Energy weighed on the index, though, with Imperial Oil withering $2.12, or 2.8%, to $72.75, while Advantage Oil skidded 17 cents, or 1.9%, to $8.62.
In health-care, Chartwell Retirement Homes handed back 13 cents, or 1.2%, to $10.89, while Sienna Senior Living dropped nine cents to $10.94.
Golds also took a beating, with Seabridge Gold losing 36 cents, or 2.3%, to $15.12, while Wesdome Gold forfeited 14 cents, or 1.7%, to $8.09.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said the value of building permits increased 2.3% in October to $11.2 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange squeaked up 0.04 points to 534.01.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive by the close, led by information technology, surging 0.8%, while utilities gained 0.5%, and communications took on 0.2%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy, sagging 0.9%, while gold and health-care each sank 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose Thursday, attempting to snap a three-day losing streak as traders looked ahead to Friday’s all-important jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 63.21 points at 36,117.64.
The S&P 500 jumped 36.25 points to 4,585.59.
The NASDAQ popped 193.28 points, or 1.4%, to 14,339.99, as technology stocks outperformed.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet gained almost 5% as traders cheered the company’s launch of its Gemini artificial intelligence model. Nvidia climbed 2% and AMD added 9%.
The moves come after the Dow and S&P 500 both posted their first three-day losing streaks since October on Wednesday. Despite recent performance, the three major indexes remain poised to finish the fourth quarter and calendar year higher, underscoring the strength of the rally seen earlier.
The job market has been a focus of investors this week amid a series of mixed data releases.
Weekly jobless claims released Thursday were below economist expectations and a reading of continuing jobless claims declined, indicating that the pace of layoffs hasn’t increased. The U.S. 10-year treasury yield popped on the back of the figures, reflecting concerns around the strength of the labor market despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury swooned, raising yields to 4.14% from Wednesday’s 4.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 29 cents to $69.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $1.80 to $2,046.10.
