The Toronto stock market headed for a slight gain Friday amid strong economic data from China and solid earnings reports from General Electric and Morgan Stanley.
The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 79.15 points to end Thursday at 13,036.36
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.07 cents to 97.09 cents U.S. early Friday
There was positive news from the world's second-biggest economy as China's growth rebounded in the latest quarter to 7.8% from a two-decade low of 7.5% in the second quarter, helped by government stimulus measures.
Copper prices advanced in the wake of the data from China, the world's biggest consumer of the metal. The December contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose two cents to $3.31 U.S. a pound.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said consumer prices rose 1.1% in the 12 months to September, matching the increase in August.
The market call was for an increase of 1%. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in September, following a 0.1% increase in August. Market call was for 0.1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sprinted ahead 25.70 points to 951.58
ON WALLSTREET
Now that Congress has reached a deal to avert a debt crisis disaster, investors are turning their attention back to the broader economy and corporate earnings.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials advanced 20 points, to 15,316. Futures for the S&P 500 added 5.3 points, or 0.3%, to 1,733.10, and futures for the NASDAQ gained 19 points, or 0.6%, to 3,320.
Google may give NASDAQ, and the broader tech sector, a boost Friday. A day after the search giant reported quarterly earnings and sales that beat expectations, shares were rallying.
In other earnings, Morgan Stanley, the last of the big banks to report, posted earnings and revenue that topped forecasts.
General Electric reported a slide in quarterly earnings, dragged down by restructuring expenses.
Schlumberger reported double-digit profit gains, fueled by offshore and Canadian drilling. Honeywell is also scheduled to report.
Early Friday, China reported its economy grew 7.8% during the third quarter, the strongest performance since the end of last year.
That's helping ease fears of a hard landing and puts the world's second-largest economy on track to meet its official growth target for 2013. World markets were broadly firmer
Oil prices gained 80 cents to $101.47 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices erased $6.20 to $1,316.80 U.S. an ounce.
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