Canada's main stock ?index rose on Friday, led by consumer discretionary and staples, and was on track for a third straight week of gains as a domestic jobs report pointed to a resilient labor market.
The TSX remained buoyant 22.93 points to move into Friday’s afternoon at 35,223.38. On the week so far, the index has shed 51 points, or 0.14%.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.13 cents to 70.71 cents U.S.
The ?consumer discretionary index rose with fashion retailer Aritzia up $10.76, or 7.1%, to $159.60, ?leading gains on the TSX, after beating first-quarter revenue estimates.
The technology sector advanced, buoyed by a $2.27, or 1.3% rise in Shopify ?shares to $176.72, after brokerage Stifel upgraded the e-commerce platform's rating to "buy" from "hold".
In company news, industrial valve maker Velan posted an adjusted net loss in the first quarter as lower volumes and higher provisions hit profitability. Velan shares sagged miday 44 cents, or 2.7%, to $15.76.
On the trade front, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a televised business forum that Saudi Arabia could help Canadian mining firms develop. He also met Amin Nasser, head of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, for talks deepening cooperation.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported employment was little changed in June (+18,000; +0.1%) and the employment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 60.8%.
The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.5%.
In May, the total value of building permits issued in Canada decreased $215.0 million (-1.7%) to reach $12.4 billion.
The decline in construction intentions was due to the non-residential sector (-6.1%) and tempered by the residential sector (+1.2%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange restored 0.49 points to 898.83, for a loss on the week so far of 39 points, or 4.2%.
Seven of the 12 subgroups had fallen by noon Friday, weighed most by materials and gold, each down 0.8%, while health-care sank 0.7%.
The five gainers were led by consumer discretionaries, up 1.4%, while consumer staples advanced 1.2%, and information technology added 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Friday after a strong Wall Street session that put the index on track for weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrials gained 91.91 points to 52,574.67.
The much broader index eked up 10.02 points by noon EDT to 7,553.66.
The NASDAQ Composite slid 6.28 points to 26,200.61.
Chip stocks were weak as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix made its U.S. debut Friday, opening at $170 on the Nasdaq and last trading up around 15%.
The American depository receipts of the company, which exploded higher this year on the massive demand for memory, were priced at $149 each. Some traders worry the new offering may compete for investor funds with U.S. memory stocks like Micron Technology.
Micron shed more than 2%, while Marvell Technology and Intel dropped more than 3%. Shares of Lam Research fell more than 1%.
Meta Platforms was a bright spot in tech during the session, however. The stock jumped 6% after Bank of America maintained its buy rating of the name. The firm said an internal memo that was reviewed by Reuters suggests that Meta is potentially improving its artificial intelligence cost structure.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were stationery, keeping yields at Thursday’s 4.55%.
Oil prices lost 95 cents to $71.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices descended $27.00 to $4,113.80 U.S. an ounce.
