TSX Follows Wall Street Higher -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks rose Thursday, helped by higher oil prices. U.S. equities also rallied, led by the tech sector after upbeat results from Facebook.

The TSX Composite Index rose 127.84 points to 15,637.59.

Precision Drilling (PD.TO) reported a net loss narrowed to $18.1 million, or six cents per share, in the first quarter ended Mar. 31, from net loss of $22.6 million, or eight cents per share, a year earlier. Shares rose 5.3 percent.

Husky Energy (HSE.TO) reported a first-quarter profit of $248 million, up from $71 million a year ago. The company also announced a refinery fire that injured 11 people. Shares plunged 8 percent.

Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) earnings totaled $67 million, or $0.08 per share. This compares with $170 million, or $0.20 per share, in last year's first quarter. Shares slipped 2.6 percent.

Canadian gold miner Iamgold (IMG.TO) announced a strategic investment in Tradewind Markets, Inc., a financial technology company that uses blockchain to speed up and streamline digital gold trading.

The European Central Bank left its key interest rates, asset purchases and forward guidance unchanged.

The Governing Council, led by ECB President Mario Draghi, left the key interest rates unchanged after the policy session in Frankfurt, in line with economists' expectations.

Canada's average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $997 in February, little changed from the previous month. Earnings were up 3.4% compared with 12 months earlier, largely the result of gains in the second half of 2017.