Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, helped by gains in mining stocks, after the latest U.S. economic data further consolidated the possibility of a quarter-basis-point rate cut next week.
The TSX Composite Index kept its win streak alive, gathering 163.59 points to pause for lunch Thursday at 23,374.76.
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.10 cents to 73.55 cents U.S.
Leading the index were B2Gold (NYSE:BTG), up 39 cents, or 10.5%, to $4.11, and OceanaGold (TSX:OGC), up 26 cents, or 7.3%, to $3.74, whereas Equinox Gold Corp (TSX:EQX) rose 64 cents, or 8.3%, to $8.32.
Among the biggest laggards in the index, Shopify (TSX:SHOP) was down 20 cents to $96.87, GFL Environmental dropped $1.32, or 2.4%, to $53.99, and Ballard Power Systems (TSX:BLDP) slid two cents to $2.37.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were B2gold Corp, Altagas, ahead 23 cents to $34.88, and Calibre Mining (TSX:CXB) Corp, surging nine cents, or 3.8%, to $2.35
On the economic docket, building permits in Canada surged 22.1% month over month to $12.4 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.5 points, or 1.3%, to 568.41.
All 12 TSX subgroups gained midday, led by gold, flying higher 3.9%, materials, jumping 3.6%, and consumer staples up 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 edged higher on Thursday as investors scooped up some tech shares and digested fresh inflation data after a volatile trading session.
The Dow Jones Industrial index fell 42.17 points at 40,819.54.
The much broader index took on 7.57 points to 5,561.70.
The NASDAQ hiked 65 points to 17,460.53.
Shares of megacap tech and semiconductor names continued to rally on Thursday, with artificial intelligence powerhouse Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) adding 1.3% and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:META) parent Meta each gaining more than 1%.
The latest producer price index, which measures the average change in prices businesses receive for their goods and services, reflected a 0.2% rise in wholesale prices in August. That’s in line with expectations.
Weekly jobless claims data released Thursday also reflected a marginal increase in the number of individuals filing for unemployment benefits, rising to 230,000 for the week ending on Sept. 7.
The report follows consumer inflation data released Wednesday — which an uptick in core prices. These strip out volatile food and energy categories. The reading spooked investors hoping for a half-percentage point cut from the Federal Reserve at its meeting next week.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields up to 3.70% from Wednesday’s 3.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $2.19 to $69.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $31.50 to $2,574.10.