Equities in Canada’s biggest market gained on Friday after a rise in gold prices lifted shares of precious metal miners and higher oil drove gains in energy shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index prospered 68.16 points to move into Friday’s noon hour at 16,394.95
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.33 cents to 76.71 cents
Enbridge fell 88 cents, or 1.9%, to $46.24, and was the biggest drag after the country's largest pipeline operator said it would buy its U.S. master limited partnership Spectra Energy Partners for a sweetened $3.3-billion deal.
Marijuana stocks gained after a Bloomberg report that U.K. alcohol giant Diageo is holding serious discussions with at least three major cannabis producers as it seeks to add marijuana-infused beverages to its portfolio of global brands.
Aphria popped $1.12, or 9.8%, the most on the main index, to $12.54, while Canopy Growth jumped $5.14, or 9.5%, to $59.43, and Aurora Cannabis gained 46 cents, or 5.7%, to $8.49.
MAG Silver Corp gained 68 cents, or 7%, to $10.34, and was the second-biggest percentage gainer on the TSX.
Parkland Fuel fell 94 cents, or 2.4%, the most on the TSX, to $39.03, and the second-biggest decliner was Corus Entertainment, down six cents or 1.5%, to $3.93.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange strengthened 8.09 points to 707.90
Eight of the 12 subgroups were higher late in the morning, with health-care soaring 5.2%, gold, shinier by 3.8%, and materials, better by 2.4%
The four laggards were weighed most by real-estate, sinking 0.3%, while consumer staples and industrials tailed off 0.2% each.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite hit a record high on Friday, led by strong gains in Netflix. The broader market also rose after the top Federal Reserve official characterized the U.S. economy as "strong."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ballooned 124.35 points to 25,781.33, as DowDuPont outperformed.
The S&P 500 hiked 15.16 points to 2,872.14, just below its all-time high
The NASDAQ leaped 60.71 points to 7,939.13. Netflix shares rose 3.4% on Friday, adding to their already strong weekly gains. The video streaming giant is up more than 10% this week.
Retailer Lowe's headed higher 9.4%, while and Target gained 4.4%, through Thursday's close, on better-than-expected results this week.
The strong results from retailers helped put the major indexes on track for slight weekly gains as investors also shook off renewed legal worries surrounding Trump. The S&P 500 has improved 0.2%, and NASDAQ strode higher 0.8%, through Thursday's close. The Dow was flat for the week coming into Friday's session.
Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 210,000, near levels not seen since 1969. Core durable goods orders rose 1.4% in July, more than the expected 0.4% increase.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered a speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming, where leading central bankers met to discuss the future of monetary policy.
Powell said he sees "further, gradual" rate hikes moving forward, noting the economy is "strong" and can handle tighter monetary policy.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields back to Thursday’s 2.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.31 to $69.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold jumped $19.70 to $1,213.70
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