Investors remained cautious on Thursday with the U.S. stock market closed, but nevertheless drove Canadian stocks higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,945.81, up 43.82 points, or 0.3 per cent. The gains were mostly modest, though widespread, a day after an upbeat reading on weekly U.S. jobless claims fed optimism that the employment situation there might be on verge of improving.
Uranium producers showed the sharpest gains, continuing a recent winning streak for some of the bigger names. Cameco Corp. rose 1.6 per cent and Uranium One Inc. surged 9.7 per cent. Other materials stocks were mixed: Teck Resources Ltd. fell 0.1 per cent and Goldcorp Inc. fell 0.2 per cent, but Barrick Gold Corp. rose 1.1 per cent.
Energy stocks were also winners. Suncor Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 0.5 per cent each. In other moves, Research In Motion Ltd. rose 0.7 per cent and WestJet Airlines rose 3.9 per cent. However, Tim Hortons Inc. fell 1.4 per cent.