Global markets were higher, lifted by a rally in technology stocks after U.S. President Donald Trump granted exclusions from steep China tariffs on smartphones and computers, though gains were limited as he warned levies were still likely.

Wall Street futures were in positive territory after major U.S. markets closed higher on Friday.

TSX futures followed sentiment higher.

In Canada, investors are getting results from PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. and Well Health Technologies Corp.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and M&T Bank Corp.

“It’s perhaps a sign of the start of the negotiation phase. There’s still more than a little bit of uncertainty around how this will actually play out but investors perhaps see the signs of flexibility,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

“It’s very difficult to take any particular announcement from the U.S. administration and really hang your hat on it and say this is where policy will be going forward ... investors are unlikely to take any particular comment and ascribe too much significance to it.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 2.03 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.83 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 2.28 per cent and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.95 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.18 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 2.4 per cent.

Oil prices rose on the tariffs news and Chinese data that showed a sharp rebound in crude imports in March, but gains were capped by concerns that the trade war between the United States and China could weaken global economic growth and dent fuel demand.

Brent crude futures were up 1 per cent to US$65.38 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 1 per cent to US$62.12.

“The news about the exemptions on tariffs has helped lift sentiment across markets,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, global head of research at Onyx Capital Group. “But there is still a lot of fragility; you have policy risk around this erratic approach to trade that continues to weigh on markets.”

In other commodities, spot gold was down 0.4 per cent at US$3,222.49 an ounce, after hitting a record high of US$3,245.42 earlier in the day. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.2 per cent to US$3,238.50.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 72.02 US cents to 72.31 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 3.16 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, dropped 0.59 per cent to 99.52.

The euro rose 0.17 per cent to US$1.1381. The British pound gained 0.63 per cent to US$1.3169.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.445 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.

China trade surplus, aggregate yuan financing and new yuan loans

Japan industrial production

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian wholesale trade for February. Estimate is a month-over-month rise of 0.4 per cent (versus a gain of 1.2 per cent in January).

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s new motor vehicle sales for February. Estimate is a year-over-year drop of 8 per cent.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press