Rising gold stocks helped push the Toronto stock market higher Friday morning on top of three straight days of advances.
The S&P/TSX composite index grew 61.59 points to greet noon at 13,898.17
The Canadian dollar slipped yet again, by 0.25 cents to 91.23 cents U.S.
Elsewhere, Dollarama Inc., which said bad weather had a severe impact on its December sales but they have been trending back to normal levels. The Montreal-based retailer says comparable-store sales in the normally busy month were down 7.5%.
Dollarama edged 14 cents lower to $82.94.
RBC also downgraded Bombardier to sector perform from outperform after the transport giant said that its flagship new airliner will be going into service later than expected. Its stock fell 7.7% Thursday on the news and lost a penny to $4.16 Friday.
The TSX gold sector, the worst performing component on the Toronto market last year, enjoyed strong gains. The sector fell almost 50% last year.
Barrick Gold advanced 75 cents to $20.67 while Goldcorp gained 72 cents to $25.10.
March copper gained one cent to $3.36 U.S. a pound, pushing the base metals sector up. Nevsun Resources climbed 21 cents to $4.15.
Financials were also positive with Royal Bank ahead 56 cents to $71.92
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.56 points to 977.10.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground by midday, led by gold, up 3.6%, materials, surging 1.7%, and global base metals, ahead 1.2%.
The three laggards were industrials and health-care, each sagging 0.4%, and utilities, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks barely moved in early trading Friday as investors analyzed a slew of corporate earnings and the latest figures on housing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained 47.65 points to pause for lunch at 16,464.66
The S&P 500 index dipped 1.37 points to 1,844.52. The NASDAQ slid 5.85 points to 4,212.83. Markets are to be shuttered Monday in the U.S. for Martin Luther King Day.
Corporate earnings have been hit and miss so far this quarter, providing little impetus for stocks to add to last year's impressive gains.
Shares of United Parcel Service dropped after the shipping company lowered fourth quarter earnings estimates due to a surge of last minute holiday orders. UPS took some heat late last year for failing to make deliveries in time for Christmas. Shares of rival FedEx fell slightly on the news as well.
Morgan Stanley shares rose after the investment bank's earnings beat Wall Street estimates. The firm was the last of the six largest U.S. banks to post earnings.
The majority of those banks surpassed analysts' expectations, but Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America all reported a sharp drop in mortgage activity due to higher interest rates.
Shares dropped for General Electric fell despite the conglomerate's report of a boost in quarterly earnings.
Intel shares sank 4% following quarterly earnings on Friday that missed expectations.
Shares Nu Skin have plunged about 40% since Wednesday after Chinese state media accused the beauty products marketer of running a pyramid scheme.
Herbalife, another multi-level marketer that has been accused by critics -- most notably hedge fund manager Bill Ackman -- of running a pyramid scheme, has dropped more than 11% on the Nu Skin news.
Shares of Electronic Arts surged more than 10% after an analyst upgrade and a report that the company will beat out its competitors for holiday video game sales.
On the economic front, the U.S. Census Bureau released reports that showed new housing construction and building permits fell in December. The robust housing market has been a main driver of the economic recovery.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.84%.
Oil prices took on 45 cents to $94.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $13.50 to $1,253.70 U.S. an ounce.
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