Equities in Canada’s biggest centre jumped off the shelves to begin Friday’s trading day, led by gains for energy and mining stocks as crude oil prices rose and after data showed a stronger than expected U.S. jobs gain and higher Canadian exports.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 78.55 points to begin the session at 13,202.2, aiming to take its win streak to seven.
The Canadian dollar was virtually unchanged at 74.59 cents U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau persuaded premiers of the country's 10 provinces on Thursday to accept the concept of putting a price on carbon but agreed the specific details could be worked out later.
RBC cut the target price on Black Diamond Group to $6.50 from $7.00 with sector perform rating. Black Diamond shares faded 20 cents, or 4.2%, to $4.57
CIBC upped the target price on Canadian Natural Resources to $40.00 from $36.00, with an outperform rating. Shares in the firm climbed 73 cents, or 2.2%, to $33.58.
CIBC raised the target price on SNC-Lavalin Group to $48.00 from $47.00. SNC shares acquired 90 cents, or 2%, to $46.41.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that this country’s imports increased 1.1% in January to $46.7 billion. Exports totaled $46.0 billion, up 1.0% from December. Consequently, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world widened from $631 million in December to $655 million in January.
Moreover, Western University in London, Ontario reported that its seasonally-adjusted Ivey Purchasing Manager's Index for February stood at 53.4, indicating that purchases were less than the previous month. That compares with to 66 in January, and with 49.7 in February 2015
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 6.6 points to 559.50
All but three of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, as metals and mining hiked 4.8%, gold took on 4.3%, and materials gained 3.1%
The three laggards were consumer staples, down 0.7%, information technology, off 0.6%, and telecoms, falling 0.2%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a range Friday after the monthly jobs report showed economic growth without necessarily inducing the Federal Reserve to raise rates earlier.
The Dow Jones Industrial average docked 4.45 points to 16,939.45, with Caterpillar the top gainer and Intel the greatest decliner.
The S&P 500 decreased 5.7 points to 1,987.70. Utilities and energy traded about 0.5% lower to lead S&P 500 decliners
The NASDAQ index dumped 6.93 points to 4,700.50, as Microsoft weighed. The NASDAQ briefly rose to come within 10% of its 52-week intraday high, out of correction territory on an intraday basis.
The Dow traded about 7.5% below its 52-week intraday high, while the S&P was 6.5% below, both out of correction territory.
The non-farm payrolls report released ahead of the open Friday showed creation 242,000 jobs in February, substantially topping expectations. The unemployment rate unchanged at 4.9%, while labour force participation was 62.9%
A 0.1% monthly drop in average hourly earnings lowered the year-on-year gain in earnings to 2.2%
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 1.87% from Thursday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell four cents a barrel to $34.53 U.S.
Gold prices sprinted higher $10.60 to $1,274.85 U.S. an ounce.
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