The Toronto stock market advanced for a fourth session Friday after a report the Canadian economy cranked out far more jobs than expected last month.
The S&P TSX Composite Index gained 137.08 points, or 1.2%, to end the week at 11,570.45
The base metals sector was ahead with the September copper contract on the Nymex up four cents to $3.05 U.S. a pound. On the TSX, Teck Resources rose $1.16 to $35.60 and Western Coal gained 21 cents to $4.22.
The gold sector climbed as Goldcorp Inc. gained 79 cents to $43.09 and Barrick Gold Corp. was ahead 63 cents to $45.04.
A major gainer was Research in Motion Ltd. Its shares were up $3.62 or just over 7% to $55.23 on a report that the blackberry maker said it was preparing to expand applications stores and consumer Internet services into China.
The TSX energy sector was little changed, as Canadian Natural Resources gained 12 cents to $36.81.
The industrials sector was also weak with Canadian National Railways down 45 cents to $60.70 after the stock was downgraded to "neutral" from "overweight" at JP Morgan.
In corporate news, auto parts giant Magna International Inc. says its shareholders will vote July 23 on a share restructuring that would see founder and chairman Frank Stronach give up control of the company in return for nearly $1 billion in stock, cash and incentives. The company had planned to conduct a vote in late June.
But that was postponed after Magna was ordered by regulators to provide shareholders with more data on the plan before they could vote. Magna said it has now provided that information and its stock rose $2.53 to $71.48.
The head of new wireless provider Mobilicity says his company will pursue legal action under the Competition Act if Rogers Communications launches its new discount service called Chatr. John Bitove alleges Rogers would have to subsidize the new service and is launching it only to stifle new competition. Rogers shares slipped 14 cents to $35.32.
Billabong International is facing a rival for the affections of Canadian retailer West 49 Inc., which says it has been approached by an American company that may top the $99.3 million friendly offer made last month. West 49 says it has been advised by Zumiez Inc. that it would be "prepared to make an offer" if it gets a chance to conduct a due diligence review. West 49 shares gained 12 cents to $1.40.
The 1,500 pilots at Jazz Air have voted to ratify a new six-year collective agreement, the regional airline announced Friday. Its units slipped a penny to $4.22.
Xstrata Zinc Canada is going ahead with a new base metals mine in northwestern Quebec. The global mining giant and its Vancouver junior partner Donner Metals Ltd. said they will immediately develop the Bracemac-McLeod mine in Matagami, Que. Donner shares gained a dime to 28 cents.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said employment rose by 93,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.2% to 7.9%. This is the first time the rate has been below the 8% mark since January 2009. Economists were expecting the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 8.1% and the economy to add only 20,000 jobs.
In other news today, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said housing starts in the nation dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 189,000 units in June from a revised 195,300 units in May and 205,900 units in April. Economists were expecting 190,300 housing starts in June.
The Canadian dollar was 0.84 cents higher at 96.73 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups ended the day higher. Metals and mining advanced 3.2%, materials were up 2.3%, and global base metals flourished 2.2%.
The two laggards were health-care, down 0.8%, and telecoms, off 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 16.54 points to 1,369.55 while the Nasdaq Canada index galloped ahead 31.20 points to 622.57
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied Friday, finding momentum at the end of a choppy session ahead of the first wave of quarterly corporate results due out next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained a respectable 59.04 points, to end the week at 10,198.03
The S&P 500 index added 7.70 points to 1,077.95. The Nasdaq composite index leaped 21.05 points to 2,196.45
All three major indexes drifted on both sides of unchanged during the session before finally turning higher in the last hour.
Investors returned from the Independence Day holiday this week in the mood to buy shares that had been battered in a two-month selloff. According to early tallies, in the four sessions this week, the Dow gained 512 points, or 5.3%. The S&P 500 was also up 5.5% and the Nasdaq was up 5%.
While there haven't been many positives on the economic front, there's been some optimism that companies will still be able to continue to make profits, even with the economic strain.
Analysts currently expect year-over-year growth of 27%, according to the latest figures from Thomson Reuters. Dow components Alcoa, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Intel and GE are all due next week.
Internet behemoth Google renewed its license with the Chinese government to operate its site in that country, following a four-month battle over censorship.
A renewal had been in question due to tension between the company and China over the censorship of search results. But Google's decision last week to no longer automatically redirect users of Google's China site to its uncensored Hong Kong site seemed to pave the way for the renewal.
Google shares gained 2%.
Financials were among the big gainers Friday, with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, US Bancorp and Regions Financial among the stocks lifting the KBW Bank index by 2.2%.
Caterpillar and Merck were two of the Dow's biggest gainers. But weakness in technology and oil stocks limited any gains.
Economically speaking, wholesale Inventories rose 0.5% in May after climbing 0.2% in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected inventories to rise 0.4%.
Treasury prices were lower, raising yields on the 10-year note to 3.06% from Thursday’s 3.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil moved higher by 82 cents to $76.26 U.S.
Gold prices advanced $14 to $1,210 U.S. an ounce.
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