TORONTO -- North American markets were higher Monday afternoon amid news that U.S. factory orders enjoyed their first increase since last summer.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite was up 45.32 points at 15,385.09. The loonie rose 0.32 of a U.S. cent to 82.58 cents.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 64.42 points to 18,088.48, the Nasdaq index rose 18.62 points to 5,024.01 and the S&P 500 advanced 8.27 points to 2,116.56.
On the commodity markets, the June crude contract was down 27 cents at US$58.88 a barrel, while the June gold contract rose $13.80 to US$1,188.30 an ounce and July copper fell a penny to US$2.92 a pound.
In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. factory orders rose 2.1 per cent in March, breaking a string of seven monthly declines stretching back to July. Meanwhile, orders in a category that tracks business investment plans edged ahead 0.1 per cent for its first advance since last August.
It was just the opposite in China, where the HSBC's manufacturing index based on a survey of factory purchasing managers fell to a 12-month low of 48.9 in April from 49.6 in March. The index is based on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show contraction.
However, that has raised hopes that Beijing will take action to boost the economy, something it has done several times this year. In the most recent move, the central bank last month slashed the reserve requirement ratio for banks by a full percentage point to make more money available for lending.
