Equities in Toronto rose to a 16-month high on Friday as shares of energy and materials companies gained ground and investors speculated on a rate cut from the Bank of Canada.
The S&P/TSX Composite jumped 63.12 points to greet noon at 14,911.04
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.53 cents to 75.06 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Suncor Energy, which rose 1.8% to $39.47, and Tourmaline Oil, which jumped nearly 7% to $38.93.
Precision Drilling reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by lower operating costs, and raised its capital budget for the year after winning new contracts.
Its shares rose 2.8% to $6.32, while the overall energy group was up.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added strength, led by a 4.2% gain for mining company Turquoise Hill Resources to $4.18.
A more-than-9% gain for Celestica to $15.04 helped push the information technology group higher.
Bombardier Inc fell 1.1% to $1.76. The Canadian plane and train maker will shed jobs for the second time this year, cutting about 10% of its global workforce over two years as it deepens turnaround efforts at its rail division.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported its Consumer Price Index rose 1.3% on a year-over-year basis in September, following a 1.1% increase in August.
The agency went on to say that, on a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, CPI was up 0.2% in September, after decreasing 0.1% in August.
Moreover, retail sales edged down 0.1% to $44.0 billion in August. StatsCan reported that lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, and general merchandise stores were the main contributors to the decline. Excluding these two sub-sectors, retail sales were up 0.2%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched higher 2.1 points to 788.08
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher midday, as energy and materials headed up 0.9% each, while financials progressed 0.5%.
The lone holdout was in consumer staples, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities mostly fell on Friday, pressured by a strong dollar as earnings season continued and telecommunications lagged.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows, but still trailed Thursday’s close by 43.11 points to 18,119.24, with Travelers leading decliners and Microsoft the top advancer..
The S&P 500 dropped 2.67 points to 2,138.67, with telecommunications leading eight sectors lower and information technology the biggest riser.
Telecoms were led lower by shares of AT&T, which fell nearly 4% amid reports the firm has engaged in talks for a deal to buy out Time Warner. Shares of Time Warner gained more than 9%
The NASDAQ composite index regained strength 12.28 points to 5,254.11
In corporate news, Dow component General Electric reported mixed results Friday before the open, beating estimates on earnings but missing on revenues. The industrial giant also narrowed its 2016 earnings per share guidance.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, another Dow component, posted better-than-expected results across the board on Thursday.
In all, 80% of the 116 S&P components that had reported as of Friday morning had beaten Wall Street's earnings estimates, while 65% had beaten revenue estimates.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell back, raising yields to Thursday’s 1.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $50.63 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices eased $2.70 to $1,264.80 U.S. an ounce.
