Canada's main stock index opened higher on Friday, hovering near record-high levels after a surge in commodity prices lifted the energy and materials sectors.
The TSX Composite Index gained 53.75 points to begin Friday trading at 22,353.58.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.01 cents at 73.44 cents U.S.
On the final economic reports before Victoria Day, Statistics Canada told us Canadian investors acquired an unprecedented $35.6 billion of foreign securities in March, ending the first quarter with a record investment of $51.5 billion. Meanwhile, foreign investors increased their exposure to Canadian securities by $14.4 billion in March after divesting $4.3 billion in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 4.96 points to 608.23.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground early Friday, with materials stronger 1.4%, gold higher 1.2%, and consumer staples improving 0.3%.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 1.3%, while consumer discretionary and utility stocks each shed 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near flat Friday, after the blue-chip average briefly topped the key 40,000 level for the first time in the previous session.
The 30-stock index inched higher 6.29 points to 39,875.69.
The S&P 500 eked up 1.04 points to 5,298.14.
The NASDAQ Composite added 5.68 points to 16,704.01.
Despite the weak end to Thursday’s session, the indexes are on track to end the week with gains. The NASDAQ Composite is leading the way with a 2.2% advance, followed by the S&P 500's 1.4% rise. The Dow is tracking to close the week 0.9% higher.
This week’s ascent has helped propel the three indexes into positive territory for the second quarter despite a tough start. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are now each up more than 11% in 2024, while the Dow has climbed more than 5% on the year.
Shares of Reddit rallied 10.5% after announcing a partnership with OpenAI. Under the deal, Reddit will gain certain artificial intelligence features powered by OpenAI, while the ChatGPT maker will gain access to Reddit’s Data application programming interface to train its AI models.
Take-Two Interactive Software were down more than 2% after an update about the timing of the new Grand Theft Auto game. Take-Two says the game will now come out in the fall of 2025. Previous guidance called for sometime in the 2025 year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slipped, raising yields to 4.40% from Thursday’s 4.38%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked higher six cents to $79.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved ahead $20.90 to $2,406.40.
