Canadian stocks were hovering in the green Thursday morning as investors resorted to bottom fishing after stocks dived to their 7-month low in the previous session, with steady commodities lifting traders sentiment. Gold stocks turned in a particularly strong performance amid rebounding bullion prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 74.36 points or 0.66 percent to 11,400.44, after losing over 400 points or nearly 4 percent in the past four sessions.
The Global Gold Index gained close to 5 percent, with gold moving higher Thursday morning on bargain hunting after prices fell to a 10-month low in the previous session. Meanwhile a release from the World Gold Council revealed that demand for gold eased 5 percent to 1,097.60 tons in the first quarter of 2012 on an year-over-year basis as reduced demand from the jewelry, technology and official sectors more than offset growth in gold investment demand, the council pointed out.
Gold for June rebounded $37.20 to $1,573.80 an ounce. Among gold plays, Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) and Goldcorp. (G.TO) gained around 6 percent each.
AuRico Gold (AUQ.TO) surged over 10 percent, while Kirkland Lake Gold (KGI.TO) was adding over 7 percent.
The price of crude oil was little changed Thursday morning as traders await cues from the political developments in the Greece. Crude for June gained $0.19 to $93.00 a barrel.
In the oil patch, Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) rose over 4 percent and Niko Resources (NKO.TO) added nearly 3 percent.
Taipan Resources (TPN.V) announced plans to merge Lion Petroleum Corp, an independent oil and gas exploration company with interests in 9.7 million gross oil and gas exploration acres in Block 1 and Block 2B onshore Kenya. The stock surged over 16 percent.
CP Rail (CP.TO) gained nearly 2 percent after announcing the resignation of Fred Green as president and chief executive, effective immediately.
Meanwhile, Sears Canada (SCC.TO) dived 12 percent after Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) announced plans to spin off a minority stake in Sears Canada Inc.
Financial stocks were trading marginally lower, with TD Bank (TD.TO) and Royal Bank (RY.TO) slipping around 1 percent each.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said wholesale sales rose 0.4 percent in March to $48.7 billion as three of the seven subsectors reported improved sales. In the last 12 months, Canadian wholesalers posted nine monthly increases, which translated into a growth rate of 6.0 percent relative to March 2011. In volume terms, wholesale sales were unchanged in March.
Separately, the agency said foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian securities for the second time in three months by divesting $2.1 billion in March. On the other hand, Canadian investors acquired the largest amount of foreign securities in nearly five years at $7.8 billion, with investment concentrated in equities.
From south of the border, the U.S. Labor Department's figures put the level of new unemployment claims at a seasonally adjusted level of 370,000 for the week ending May 12. The new figures, while essentially unchanged from the previous week's revised level of 370,000. Additionally the Department reported that the previous figure was revised only slightly from the 367,000 initially reported.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.