Equities in Toronto gained midday Friday as a sharp gain for miners offset losses for financial, technology, health-care and consumer discretionary stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index hiked 43.32 points to greet noon at 14,180.31
The Canadian dollar leaped 0.86 cents to 77.22 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold jumped 10% to $24.46, Goldcorp gained 5.9% to $23.55, and Kinross Gold rose 9.9% to $6.26.
Diversified miners also gained as a range of base metals prices were boosted by a weaker U.S. dollar.
Teck Resources advanced 7.4% to $13.86, and First Quantum Minerals gained 6.2% to $9.13.
Among main laggards was Manulife Financial, which declined 3% to $18.83. The insurer said late on Thursday that it would take a 49% stake in a Toronto real estate company.
Brookfield Asset Management fell 1.8% to $45.41 after Asciano shareholders voted for Brookfield's buyout proposal.
The overall financials group slipped, with Royal Bank of Canada down 0.9% to $78.87, and Toronto-Dominion Bank also off 0.9%, to $57.05.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that our exports increased 1.5% to $41.8 billion in April. Export prices were up 1.1% and volumes rose 0.5%. Imports increased 0.9% to $44.7 billion, as volumes were up 0.8% and prices edged up 0.1%.
As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $3.2 billion in March to $2.9 billion in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange marched 9.77 points to 688.10
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups slumped in Friday’s first hour, with health-care ailing 1.6%, information technology clicking 1.2% lower, and financials off 1.1%.
The five gainers were led by gold, shining 7.1% brighter, materials, up 4.8%, and metals and mining, spiking 4.5%. Real-estate shares were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower Friday, with financials lagging, after a sharp miss on the May jobs report renewed some concerns about economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative, but within 49.19 points of breakeven, to greet noon at 17,789.37, after losing more than 100 points in morning trade. Goldman Sachs contributed the most to declines, followed by JPMorgan Chase.
The S&P 500 faded 9.91 points at 2,095.35. Utilities traded more than 1.5% higher to lead S&P 500 advancers, while financials briefly fell more than 2% as the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ lost 32.74 points to 4,938.62
The week was shortened by the Memorial Day holiday Monday.
The May jobs report showed creation of 38,000 jobs down south, well below expectations. Analysts noted the Verizon workers' strike likely made the number lower than it would have been.
Experts said Fed funds futures showed markets were pricing in an 8% chance of a June rate hike, and 33% in July, according to RBS.
Chances for a September hike were 54%, and 90% in December, with the first full rate hike now factored in for March 2017.
The final Markit services PMI was 51.3 in May, down from 52.8 in April and well below the post-crisis average of 55.6
The Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing came in at 52.9 for May, well below April's 55.7 print. The employment component fell to 49.7 from 53.0 in April.
Factory orders rose 1.9% in May.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 1.71% from Thursday’s 1.8%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices retreated 43 cents a barrel to $48.74 U.S.
Gold prices jumped $29.80 to $1,242.40 U.S. an ounce.
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