Gold miners led the Toronto stock index higher at the open on Friday, as the precious metal surged for two consecutive sessions, though growing worries over developments in the euro-zone may cast a shadow on possible gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 72.15 to begin the day at 11,402.83
The Canadian dollar regained 0.21 to 98.32 cents U.S.
Among the stocks to watch this morning, SMART Technologies Inc. which makes digital whiteboard and which posted a fourth-quarter loss as it sold fewer interactive displays, and forecast dim prospects for 2013 citing uncertainty in education markets.
China-focused silver miner Silvercorp Metals Inc. reported on Thursday a lower fourth-quarter profit as higher production costs offset increased sales volumes and better realized metal prices.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the nation’s inflation rate edged up one 10th of a point to 2% in April as the cost of most things rose, but moderately.
The big surprise was that energy costs, for the first time since October 2009, rose at lower rate than the overall index with a tiny 1.1% increase from last year.
The agency says prices rose year-over-year in all eight of the major groups it tracks, led by transportation, which increase by 3.4%, and food, which cost 2.5% more.
On a monthly tracking, consumer prices rose 0.4% in April from March as the cost of gasoline increased by 3.2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.24 points to 1,233.31, while the Nasdaq Canada squeaked ahead 0.16 points to 361.38.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground in the first hour, led by gold, up 2.4%, materials, up 1.7%, and the metals and mining group, up 1.1%.
Information technology stocks weighed most heavily on the five laggards, losing 0.6%, while real-estate and industrial stocks withered 0.1% each.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were flat at the open Friday as investors set aside worries about Europe and turned their focus to Facebook's debut.
The Dow Jones Industrials opened down 5.75 points to 12,441.73
The S&P 500 inched up 2.14 points to 1,307. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index erased 6.75 to 2,806.94.
Facebook, which priced its initial public offering at $38 U.S. a share after the closing bell Thursday, will start trading on the Nasdaq Friday. The offering raised $16 billion U.S., making it the most valuable tech IPO in history.
Apparel retailer Foot Locker reported better-than-expected earnings. Shares rose 1.4% in pre-market trading.
Shares of Salesforce.com rose 6.6% after company reported better-than-expected earnings late Thursday.
Shares of clothing maker Gap rose 1.5% pre-market on its better-than-expected earnings and a raised earnings outlook.
Shares of Chinese solar energy producers Yingli Green Energy, Trina Solar and Suntech Power fell sharply Thursday after the U.S. government announced new tariffs on Chinese solar panels. On the flip side, shares of U.S. panel makers First Solar rose 7% while SunPower gained 10%.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slumped, pushing the yield up to 1.73% from Thursday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil fell moved back 53 cents to $92.03 U.S.
Gold futures for June delivery rose $14.20 to $1,589.10 U.S. an ounce
