Canadian Stocks Are Rising On Commodity Strength -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is gaining ground in early trade Friday morning, after snapping a three session winning streak on Thursday. The rebound in commodity prices is providing a boost to the market this morning, as mining and energy stocks are leading the charge to the upside.

Markets in Europe are on the rise at the end of the trading week, due to optimism for a Greek deal. The Greek government is reportedly working to craft a new plan for economic reforms. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other key leaders met Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of the two-day EU summit on Thursday night. Merkel reportedly said that no disbursement of funds will be made unless Athens implements budget measures. Merkel is set to meet Tsipras again in Berlin on Monday.

Markets in the United States are also gaining ground this morning, after turning in a mixed performance in the previous session. Weakness in the value of the U.S. dollar has generated early buying interest. However, some investors are likely remaining on the sidelines, due to the lack of U.S. economic data at the end of the trading week.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 69.95 points or 0.47 percent at 14,943.88.

On Thursday, the index closed down 88.31 points or 0.59 percent, at 14,873.93. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,964.18 and a low of 14,817.49.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is increasing by 3.86 percent. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is advancing by 3.19 percent and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is adding 3.36 percent. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is surging by 8.31 percent and Finning International (FTT.TO) is up 1.32 percent. Sherritt International (S.TO) is gaining 4.37 percent and Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is rising by 4.27 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is also up 1.57 percent. Franco-Nevada is up 1.65 percent and Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is rising 2.03 percent. Agrium (AGU.TO) is higher by 0.20 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT.TO) is lower by 1.00 percent.

Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is increasing by 3.20 percent, after it announced that Ammar Al-Joundi will be joining the Company as President, effective April 6, 2015.

The Gold Index is climbing by 2.14 percent. Gold was steady Friday morning, holding onto big gains from the previous two sessions as the dollar drifted lower against the euro.

Goldcorp (G.TO) is advancing by 2.22 percent and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is gaining 2.01 percent. Kinross Gold (K.TO) is climbing by 2.67 percent and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is up 2.90 percent. IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is gaining 2.36 percent and B2Gold (BTO.TO) is climbing by 4.66 percent. Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is also rising by 3.59 percent.

The Energy Index is climbing by 1.27 percent. Crude oil prices are attempting to bounce back from six year lows.

Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is higher by 0.90 percent and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is gaining 0.93 percent. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is advancing by 0.86 percent and Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is rising by 3.02 percent.

Legacy Oil + Gas (LEG.TO) surging by 8.33 percent and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is increasing by 1.74 percent.

Encana (ECA.TO) is up 2.04 percent, after it completed its offering of 85,616,500 common shares at a price of C$14.60 per share.

Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is climbing by 7.45 percent, after it received approval from the Brazilian Securities Commission and the Brazilian Stock Exchange to delist its Brazilian depositary receipts.

The heavyweight Financial Index is advancing by 1.06 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is rising by 0.65 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is gaining 0.89 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is increasing by 1.19 percent and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is higher by 1.11 percent.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is advancing by 0.87 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM.TO) is up 1.16 percent.

The Capped Health Care Index is down 0.62 percent. Catamaran (CCT.TO) is falling by 0.89 percent and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is losing 1.60 percent.

The Capped Information Technology Index is down 0.45 percent. Constellation Software (CSU.TO) is decreasing by 0.51 percent and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is losing 1.71 percent. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is also falling by 0.81 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is lower by 0.40 percent. BCE (BCE.TO) is lower by 1.12 percent and Rogers Communications (RCI-A.TO) is falling by 1.49 percent. TELUS (T.TO) is also decreasing by 0.99 percent.

AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) is sinking by 19.37 percent. The company reported fourth quarter EPS of $0.59, compared to $0.44 a year ago.

Baylin Technologies (BYL.TO) is falling by 12.59 percent, after it posted a fourth quarter loss of $0.26 per share. The company reported a profit of $0.02 per share last year.

Bombardier (BBD-A.TO) is up 0.76 percent, after its Bombardier Transportation unit agreed on an out-of-court settlement with Deutsche Bahn regarding various vehicle projects.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed that Canadian retail sales plunged 1.7 percent to C$41.4 billion in January. This was worse than expectations for 0.8 percent decline, following the 2.0 percent fall in December.

Excluding auto-sales, retail sales were down by 1.8 percent on month, far weaker than the 0.5 decrease predicted by economists. The core retail sales fell by 2.3 percent in December.

Separate data showed that Canada's inflation improved 1.0 percent on year in February. The reading matched expectations and was unchanged from January's estimate.

Core inflation slowed to 2.1 percent on an annual basis, from 2.2 percent in December. The index came in line with forecasts.

Eurozone current account surplus in January grew from a year ago, as trade surplus and primary income rose sharply, figures from the European Central Bank revealed Friday. The current account surplus rose to EUR 29.4 billion from EUR 18.1 billion a year ago. In December, the surplus was EUR 22.5 billion.

A measure of turning points in the German economy in coming months grew at a slower rate in January, data from the Conference Board showed Friday. The leading economic index for Germany rose 0.4 percent monthly after a 0.8 percent climb in the previous month. In the six months to January, the index added 0.3 points, moving back into positive territory for the first time since June 2014.

Germany's producer prices dropped more-than-expected in February, figures from Destatis showed Friday. The producer price index fell 2.1 percent year-over-year in February, exceeding economists' expectations for a 2.0 percent drop.

The U.K. budget deficit showed its smallest budget deficit for February since 2008 on robust income tax receipts suggesting that the government is on the course to achieve its budget targets. Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks declined by GBP 3.5 billion to GBP 6.9 billion in February, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. It was forecast to fall to GBP 8.4 billion.

The majority of the households in the UK perceived that the value of their houses increased in March, after moderating in the previous month, results of a survey conducted by Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed Friday. The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 57.5 in March from 56.5 in February. This marked the twenty-fourth consecutive month of the index remaining above 50.

In commodities, crude oil futures for April delivery are up $1.65 or 3.75 percent at $45.61 a barrel.

Natural gas for April is up $0.081 or 2.88 percent at $2.894 per million btu.

Gold futures for April are up $11.40 or 0.98 percent at $1,180.40 an ounce.

Silver for May is up $0.426 or 2.64 percent at $16.54 an ounce.