Stocks in Canada’s biggest market seemed determined to go into a long weekend strong, with gains led by banks, energy and railway stocks as bond yields rose and the currency pulled back, while software company Open Text Corp also rose as analysts cheered its quarterly earnings.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index regained 27.81 points to begin the week’s last session at 15,219.77
The Canadian dollar deducted 0.34 cents to 79.19 cents U.S.
Open Text shares advanced $1.69, or 4%, to $43.63.
Nebraska regulators weighing the fate of TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline have ruled that opponents of the project cannot use one of their best arguments against it in final hearings next week: that America does not need the oil.
TransCanada shares lost 13 cents to $64.24.
National Bank raised the target price on Canadian Natural Resources to $49.00 from $47.00. The stock which trades under the symbol CNQ gained 20 cents to $40.10.
Barclays raised the target price on IGM Financial by 5% to $41.00. IGM shares dropped 30 cents to $42.51.
National Bank cut the target price on SNC-Lavalin Group to $69.00 from $70.00. SNC shares took on 32 cents to $54.10.
It’s a busy Friday on the economic calendar, ahead of a long weekend in much of Canada. The economy created 11,000 jobs during July, dropping the jobless rate two-10ths of a percentage point to 6.3%, the lowest rate since October 2008, just prior to the onset of the 2008-2009 labour market downturn.
Analysts expected a jump of 10,000 jobs and an unemployment rate at 6.5%.
Elsewhere, Canada's merchandise trade balance with the world posted a $3.6 billion deficit in June, widening from a $1.4-billion deficit in May. Exports fell 4.3% while imports edged up 0.3%.
The trade gap was expected to have widened slightly to $1.35 billion in June.
Elsewhere, Western University’s IVEY Purchasing Managers' index faded to 60 in July, from June 61.6 and a 57 reading in July 2016. The index measures purchases by purchasing managers over the month, and any reading over 50 suggests expansion in purchases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.98 points to 765.52
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups started the day positive, with energy and information technology shares each moving up 0.5%, and consumer discretionary notching up 0.3%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 1.4%, materials, weakening 0.6%, and health-care, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly higher on Friday on better-than-expected employment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved skyward 27.41 points to 22,053.51, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 regained 2.77 points to 2,474.93, with financials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ gained 4.95 points to 6,345.29
Univar Inc. and Sempar Energy are part of a sparse crowd declaring earnings after a busy season.
The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last month, according to the U.S. Labor Department, well above the expected gain of 183,000.
The closely watched wage number was unchanged from previous months, with average hourly earnings up 2.5%. The average work week also was unchanged at 34.5 hours.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slumped, raising yields to 2.28% from Thursday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped eight cents to $48.95 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slouched $13.70 to $1,260.70 U.S. an ounce.
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