The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market appeared to be headed for another upwards session on Thursday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has been on a tear this week. The S&P/TSX composite index added 101.91 points on Wednesday to close at 11,349.88, the third consecutive day of triple-digit gains.

The third-quarter earnings season effectively got started Wednesday with a report by U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa Inc., which surprised analysts with its first profit in nine months.

The profit of US$77 million, or 8¢ per share, was due to cost cutting and rising sales to automakers.

There was also encouraging U.S. economic data released Thursday morning.

The number of Americans making new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early January, as employers cut fewer workers.

The U.S. Labor Department says first-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to a seasonally adjusted 521,000.

Ahead of the opening bell, U.S. stock market futures point to a higher opening. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 77 or 0.8%, to 9,750. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 9.00, or 0.9%, to 1,063.00, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 12.25, or 0.7%, to 1,720.25.

The Canadian dollar opened at US94.74¢, gaining 0.61 from the Thursday close. The loonie has risen more than two cents since the beginning of the month, fuelled in part by rising prices for important Canadian commodities.

Influential TSX energy stocks could move higher as the November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up 78¢ to US$70.35 a barrel in electronic trading early Thursday. The contract lost $1.31 to settle at US$69.57 on Wednesday.

In Canadian corporate news, Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX:BAM.A) and its partners will acquire half of an Australian coal terminal and all of an English port business as part of a US$1.1 billion deal with Babcock & Brown Infrastructure of Sydney.

Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, known as BBI, has been actively seeking buyers over the past 18 months in order to deal with its massive debt load. Brookfield and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (TSX:BIP.UN) will own nearly 40% of BBI once it acquires up to US$635 million of securities issued by the Australian company.

In addition, Brookfield will pay US$265 million for a 50% stake in a coal terminal in Queensland Australia and 100% of PD Ports in northeastern England. Brookfield will also repay US$160 million owed by PD Ports.

Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM.A) closed at $24.06 on Wednesday while Brookfield Infrastructure Partners closed at $17.30.

In mining news, HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) has approved an $85 million budget for Phase 1 of the Lalor gold and base-metals project in northern Manitoba. HudBay shares closed Wednesday at $13.70.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.3%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.6%, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.2%, and France’s CAC-40 jumped 1.2%.