Bay Street Looks Overseas For Direction Friday Morning -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks will look to end the week on a better note Friday after losses in the previous session.

Early signals are tough to read, but gains overseas in Europe and Asia are likely to inspire some optimism this morning.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 46.36 points, or 0.33 percent, to 13,828.97 on Thursday. Health care stocks fell amid regulatory scrutiny for Valeant (VRX.TO).

Gold stocks may trim recent gains. Gold for December was down $8 at $1180 an ounce on the Comex, having touched a 4-month high near $1190.

In corporate news, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS, BNS.TO) or Scotiabank said that it agreed to acquire the Canadian MasterCard and private label credit card portfolio from JPMorgan Chase.

Bombardier (BBD.B.TO) is said to hold talks on C Series order from JetBlue, Bloomberg reports.