Markets in Toronto retained their earlier gains as Friday’s session brought July to a close, the mining and utility sectors extending their earlier climb, and canceling out losses in the energy group.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 85.66 points to close the day, week and month at 14,468.44.
The Canadian dollar stumbled 0.46 cents to 76.44 cents U.S.
Utilities led the parade of winners, as Emera Inc. climbed $2.35, or 5.7%, to $43.82, while ATCO Ltd. gained $1.69, or 4.5%, to $39.23.
Next were gold stocks, primarily Eldorado Gold, soaring 47 cents, or 11.6%, to $4.51, while Semafo Inc. increased 27 cents, or 10.5%, to $2.85.
OPEC increased production amid oversupply concerns. However, stronger-than-expected earnings from Enbridge and TransCanada helped lessen the impact of soft oil prices.
Enbridge closed the day at $56.69, up 40 cents from Thursday’s close, while TransCanada gathered 43 cents to $50.80.
Industrials were lower on the day, as MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates slumped $5.50, or 6.6%, to $77.54.
Bombardier was the most actively traded stock, losing 14 cents, or nearly 8%, to $1.62, on 14.1 million shares.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reported that the economy sank yet again in May, for the fifth straight time, with Gross Domestic Product down 0.2% in May.
The decline in May was mostly a result of contractions in manufacturing, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction as well as wholesale trade.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.01 points to 594.31
Nine of the 14 TSX subgroups were positive on the day, led by utilities, up 3.7%, gold, shinier by 3%, and materials, soaring 2.5%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by energy, down 0.8%, industrials, fading 0.6%, and consumer discretionaries, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mildly lower on Friday, the final day of trade for July, as investors digested energy earnings misses and soft data that could push an initial rate hike further out.
The Dow Jones industrial average faltered 55.52 points to 17,690.46, with Coca-Cola leading advancers and Chevron the greatest laggard. Visa was the best performer for the month, rising 12%, while United Technologies was the worst with a near-10-percentage-point decline. Nearly half the blue chips posted losses for July.
The S&P 500 demurred 4.64 points to 2,103.99, with utilities leading five sectors higher and energy the greatest decliner. The two sectors were the best and worst performers for the month, respectively.
The NASDAQ index slipped 0.50 points to 5,128.28
The NASDAQ outperformed with a 2.8% gain for the month. The S&P 500 gained nearly 2% for the month, while the Dow posted a 0.4% gain for July but remained off 0.74% for 2015.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron plunged more than 4.5% each as the greatest decliners in the Dow Jones industrial average.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron both posted earnings that missed expectations. Exxon posted the lowest profit in six years, while Chevron posted the worst quarterly profit in nearly 13 years.
In economic news, the Chicago PMI came in at 54.7 for July, the highest since January.
The final University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey came in at 93.1 for July.
The employment cost index disappointed analysts with a rise of 0.2%, the smallest increase in 33 years and below expectations of 0.6%.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were higher, lowering yields to 2.19% from Thursday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices $1.71 a barrel to $46.81 U.S.
Gold prices gained six dollars to $1,094.40 U.S. an ounce.
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