Toronto's main stock index opened only slightly higher on Friday, after 85% of Greece's private creditors accepted its bond swap offer, but investors were also expected to take their cue from U.S. jobs data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index prospered but 20.90 points to open the week’s final session at 12,482.83
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.07 cents to 101.04 cents U.S.
Stocks to watch this morning include casino operator Great Canadian Gaming Corp., which posted a fourth-quarter profit in the absence of any big charge like last year, but sales at the company fell marginally on flat revenue at some of its main businesses.
Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. said its quarterly profit rose more than 50% as the company benefited from its customers drilling more complex, deeper and longer horizontal wells in unconventional fields.
Gold stocks shrugged off the jobs reports, both positive and negative, as Barrick Gold Corp. fell 1.2%.
Moreover, energy producers rose as the price of crude oil nudged higher. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.5% and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. rose 0.9%
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said employment was unchanged in February. A decline in the number of people searching for work pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.4%.
Compared with 12 months earlier, employment was up by 121,000, or 0.7%, with the bulk of the increase occurring in the first half of the period.
Elsewhere, the agency also said January exports declined 2.3% and imports edged down 0.6%. As a result, Canada's trade surplus narrowed from $2.9 billion in December 2011 to $2.1 billion in January 2012, for the third consecutive monthly trade surplus.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.88 points to 1,636.22, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved ahead 3.38 points to 415.94
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were in the green at the outset. Health-care stocks gained 0.9%, metals and mining were 0.6% stronger, and consumer staples pulled ahead 0.3%.
The two laggards were gold, off 1%, and materials, slipping 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, a slightly better-than-expected jobs report and positive news out of Greece lifted stocks for a third straight day at Friday's open.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 50.82 points in the first hour to 12,958.80.
The S&P 500 gained 4.09 points to 1,370, while the Nasdaq strengthened 18.20 points to 2,988.62
Friday also marks the third anniversary of a bull market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have more than doubled in value from the bear market lows on March 9, 2009. The Dow is up more than 97%.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters shares dropped after Starbucks announced that it will begin selling a single-service coffee machine of its own.
Green Mountain currently dominates the single-serve market with its popular Keurig, or K-Cup, machines.
In Greece, creditors agreed to a plan to restructure Greek bonds, government officials said Friday. More than 85% of private bondholders agreed to the deal, Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a statement.
The agreement on private-sector involvement, as it is known, was the final hurdle Greece must clear to meet all the conditions of its second €130-billion bailout program from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
European finance officials could approve the final portion of Greece's bailout as early as Friday -- staving off, for now, the prospect of a disorderly default.
Economically speaking, the jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate remain unchanged at 8.3%. That's down from January, when employers added 243,000 jobs.
A survey of 19 economists had predicted that the economy added 210,000 jobs in February, with an 8.3% unemployment rate.
The U.S. trade deficit for January is expected to total $48.2 billion U.S., according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com -- down from $48.8 billion U.S. in December.
Wholesale inventories for January are expected to have increased by 0.6%, after increasing 1% the month prior.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note dropped, raising yields to 2.04% from Thursday’s 2.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gained 84 cents to $107.42 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $16 to $1,682.70 U.S. an ounce.
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