Tenuous calm settles in on Toronto Stock Exchange after week of jitters
Posted January 8, 2016 4:46 am.
Last Updated January 8, 2016 8:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – North American investors were experiencing a calmer day and tenuous gains on Friday after days of upheaval spurred by events surrounding China’s currency and two of its major stock markets.
Canada’s main stock market index, the S&P/TSX Composite, gained 10.34 points in mid-morning trading to put it at 12,458.55 after a brutal Thursday that saw it lose 20 per cent of its value from its all-time high set in September 2014.
In New York, the Dow Jones average of 30 stocks was up 17.33 points at 16,531.43, after falling nearly 400 points on Thursday.
The broader S&P 500 index was up 3.05 points at 1,946.14, while the Nasdaq gained 15.5 points to 4,704.93.
Major stock indexes in Asia including the Shanghai Composite made slight gains Friday but major indexes in Europe slipped into the red after beginning the day marginally positive.
The Canadian dollar remained below 71 cents U.S. near 12 1/2-year lows.
It was at 70.77 cents U.S., down 0.17 of a cent from Thursday’s close at 70.94 cents U.S.
On the commodity markets, the February gold contract fell $5.40 to US$1,102.90 an ounce and the February crude contract was down 40 cents at US$32.87 per barrel.