Gains for TSX at Outset

(MENAFN- Baystreet.ca) Equities in Canada's largest centre opened higher on Thursday, helped by gains in energy, mining stocks, while data showed the domestic manufacturing activity grew at its fastest pace on record in March.
The TSX gained 76.41 points to begin the last session before the Easter long weekend at 18,777.08.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.04 cents at 79.54 cents U.S.
Ontario will enter another lockdown on the weekend for 28 days, as it grapples with rising COVID-19 cases and intensive care hospitalization rates.
TD Securities raised the target price on Dollarama to $65.00 from $64.00. Dollarama gathered 40 cents to $55.92.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Park Lawn to $43.00 from $40.00. Park Lawn shares climbed $1.28, or 3.9%, to $34.20.
CIBC raised the rating on Telus to outperform from neutral. Telus shares galloped 14 cents to $25.17.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported the total value of building permits issued in February broke the $10-billion mark for the first time, as a jump in the non-residential sector more than offset the decline in the residential sector.
Moreover, the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index registered 58.5 in March, up considerably from 54.8 in February, to become the highest reading in over 10 years of data collection.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 9.87 points to 962.42.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were up in the first hour, with information technology skyrocketing 1.9%, gold, better by 1.7%, and health-care better by 1.5%.
Financials proved the only negative, appearing just south of breakeven.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 crossed the 4,000 threshold for the first time on Thursday as Wall Street built on a solid March following the rollout of President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan.
The Dow Jones Industrials inched up 6.05 points to begin the session at 32,987.60.
The S&P 500 picked up 27.27 points, to 4,000.16.
The NASDAQ Composite recouped 213.03 points, or 1.6%, to 13,459.90. Alphabet and Facebook gained more than 2% each, while Amazon and Netflix all rose over 1%.
Wall Street just wrapped up March with solid gains. The Dow jumped 6.6%, and the S&P 500 climbed 4.3%, last month, posting their best months since November. The NASDAQ gained 0.4% in March as tech stocks came under pressure amid rising interest rates.
Microsoft shares rose 1.2% on news that the software giant will deliver to the U.S. Army more than 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headset. The contract will be worth $21.9 billion over 10 years.
The upward movement in stocks came after Biden introduced his multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal. The plan includes spending on roads and bridges as well as green energy and water system upgrades. This marks the second major spending push of Biden's presidency after he signed a $1.9-trillion relief and stimulus bill on March 11.
The plan Biden outlined Wednesday includes roughly $2 trillion in spending over eight years and would raise the corporate tax rate to 28% to fund it.
Still, some on Wall Street grew worried that higher taxes could pose a threat to rebounding corporate earnings and stock prices.
In deal news, Micron Technology and Western Digital are said to be exploring a deal to buy Japanese semiconductor firm Kioxia for about $30 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Micron shares jumped more than 5% on the news, while Western Digital was up about 4.8%.
Investors digested a worse-than-expected reading on weekly jobless claims Thursday. First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 27 totaled 719,000, higher than 675,000 expected by economists.
The key March jobs report will be released on Friday, although the stock market will be closed for the Good Friday holiday. Economists expect 630,000 jobs were added in March, and the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.2%, according to Dow Jones.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys advanced, lowering yields to 1.70% from Wednesday's 1.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $1.21 to $60.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $10.60 to $1,726.20.

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