Loonie stable but under 69 cents US

The Canadian dollar was holding its own early Thursday as overseas markets and US index futures gave mixed signals. Eight of its 10 main groups were higher.

It is the index’s lowest levels since June 2013.

In economic news, the loonie rallied more than a cent to 70.02 US.

Royal Bank of Canada advanced 0.8 percent to C$66.11 after British insurer Aviva said it would buy RBC’s general insurance arm for C$582 million ($403 million).

Gold miners and fertilizer companies also weighed, with bullion lower on a weaker euro and skittish investors wary of a possible global slowdown. Calgary-based Baytex Energy Corp. soared 23.71 percent to 2.40 Canadian dollars a share, Suncor Energy Inc. added 4.68 percent to 29.76 dollars a share, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited increased 8.38 percent to 24.82 dollars a share.

Telecoms slumped 5.9 percent, while industrial stocks fell 1.5 percent.

American markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday after having started the new year with their worst ever opening two-week period.

Energy led advancers on the TSX, with a 5% rise, while financials were up 1.5%. The mood was much brighter for crude Thursday however, as the main oil contract was up by 80 cents United States to $29.18.

The Dow Jones index futures were down 395.0 points at 15,886.0, S&P 500 futures declined 45.25 points to 1,869.25 and the Nasdaq futures lost 127.5 points to 4,130.0.

Besides the boost from oil prices, markets were also encouraged by remarks from the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, who said the bank would consider using more stimulus measures for the European economy at its next meeting in March.

“I think we’ve just reached a point where the selling that’s been so prevalent for the last couple of weeks is exhausted, and now we’re seeing markets starting to bounce back the other way”, Cieszynski said.