Stocks in Canada’s largest market closed the week with triple-digit gains, as health-care and tech stocks pulled the indexes forward.
The TSX regained 161.77 points to close the day and the week at 20,503.21, for a gain on the week of 143 points, or 0.7%.
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.46 cents at 74.73 cents U.S.
Health-care issues proved the champion Friday, with Bellus Health jumping 46 cents, or 4.6%, to $10.53, while Bausch Health Companies hiking 40 cents, or 3.8%, to $10.86.
Tech stocks also shone, Magnet Forensics rocketing $5.45, or 14.2%, to $43.80, while HUT 8 Mining grabbing 31 cents, or 14%, to
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada says retail trade for November decreased 0.1% to $61.8 billion in November. Sales decreased in six of 11 subsectors and were led by lower sales at food and beverage stores (-1.6%) and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-3.8%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 7.9 points, or 1.3%, to 623.81, for a gain on the week of 8.7 points, or 1.4%.
All but one of the 12 subgroups gained ground, with health-care strongest, up 2.5%, information technology better by 2.2%, and materials, improving 1%.
Only consumer staples sat this one out, losing 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied on Friday to finish the week strong after briefly losing the momentum of the January rally.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 330.93 points, or 1%, to 33,375.49.
The S&P 500 piled on 73.76 points, or 1.9%, to 3,972.61.
The NASDAQ Composite popped 288.17 points, or 2.7%, to 11,140.43, with help from Netflix and Alphabet, to end the day at 11,140.43.
The NASDAQ was also the outperformer for the week, posting a 0.55% gain and its third positive week in a row. The Dow finished the week lower by 2.7%, and the S&P posted a 0.7% loss, both breaking two-week win streaks.
All the major averages are still in positive territory for the year.
Investors continued to monitor earnings reports and mega cap tech shares led the market higher. Netflix gained about 8.5% after posting more subscribers than expected even though its quarterly earnings missed analysts’ estimates. Alphabet rose more than 5% after the company announced it will lay off 12,000 employees.
Sales of previously owned homes fell for the 11th consecutive month in December, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Existing homes fell to an annualized pace of 4.02 million units in December, down 1.5% month over month and 34% year over year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sank, raising yields to 3.50% from Thursday’s 3.40%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 35 cents to $80.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices edged up four dollars to $1,927.90 U.S. an ounce.
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