Canadian stocks opened slightly higher Thursday as oil and gold prices strengthened, but poor consumer confidence and high unemployment numbers from the U.S. weighed on markets.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark, the S&P/TSX composite index, was up 1.01 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 8,012.03 in early trading.
TNS Canadian Facts, a marketing and research group, said Thursday its consumer confidence index for March stands at 83.7, down from 85.9 in the previous month.
"With the troubling economy continuing to dominate our news, it comes as no surprise that Canadians believe that current conditions are dismal," Richard Jenkins, vice-president of TNS Canadian Facts.
The Canadian dollar fell to 77.73 cents U.S. early Thursday from its previous close of 77.75 cents U.S..
Oil was trading at $43.51 U.S. a barrel, up from Wednesday's finish of $42.33 U.S. a barrel. Gold was at $923 U.S. an ounce, up from $910.70 U.S. on Wednesday.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down around 8.53 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 6,921.2 and the Nasdaq composite index was down by 3.35 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,368.29.
Initial jobless claims for the week of March 7 in the U.S. came in at 654,000 and could reach and breach the 700,000 mark soon, according to Ian Pollick, economics strategist at TD Securities.
Meanwhile, "shockingly bad" ongoing jobless claims for the week of Feb. 28 came in at an all-time high of 5.30 million, increasing by 193,000 from the prior week, Pollock said. "This is one of the sharpest increases in continuing claims in recorded history and underscores the true sad state of affairs of the U.S. labour market," he said.
However, U.S. retail sales slipped only 0.1 per cent in February, beating expectations of a 0.5 per cent decline. Auto sales were down 4.9 per cent but retail sales were up 0.7 per cent.
Overseas, German industrial output fell by a record 7.5 per cent in January, its biggest drop since reunification in 1990, Economy Ministry figures showed on Thursday. Frankfurt's DAX was down 34.26 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 3,879.84 at midday Thursday. London's FTSE 100 index was down 16.09 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 3,677.72. The Paris CAC lost 28.77 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 2,645.43.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average closed down 177.87 points, or 2.41 per cent, to 7,198.25. Hong Kong's Hang Senator index ended up 70.87 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 12,001.53.
On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX closed up 130.61 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 8,011.02. The Dow Jones rose a more modest 3.91 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 6,930.40. The Nasdaq was up 13.36 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 1,371.02.
