Rising commodities prices have lifted resources stocks on Bay Street Friday, staking Toronto's main index to a triple-digit advance.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index powered ahead 129.54 points, or 1.2%, to 10,830.05, in a broad-based advance.
Gauges of all major sectors were moving in the green, with energy stocks and information technology stocks leading the gang.
Energy shares have gotten a boost from rising crude prices. Oil hit its highest level of 2009 this morning, jumping above $74 U.S.
EnCana Corp. gained 43 cents to $57.01 on the TSX and Suncor Inc. improved 95 cents, or 2.8%, to $35.43.
Gold and other metals producers also saw strength. Barrick Gold Corp. moved ahead 50 cents to $37.51, a jump of 1.4%.
Promising economic news out of the Eurozone gave investor sentiment a boost, lifting the euro and loonie at the expense of the dollar.
In corporate news, drug maker Patheon Inc. announced that Switzerland's Lonza Group has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire all of the outstanding Restricted Voting Shares of Patheon at a price of $3.55 U.S.
Pantheon said Patheon said the bid trumps the $2 per share hostile takeover offer from JLL Partners Inc. Pantheon shares skyrocketed 85 cents, or 33%, to $3.43
Elsewhere, a New Jersey court threw out a lawsuit filed by the pharmaceutical company Biovail against SAC Capital Management LLC. Biovail shares were up two cents to $14.82.
Tristar Oil and Gas improved 35 cents, or 2.4%, to $15.20 after an analyst at CIBC reduced his rating on the company to "sector performer."
Delphi Energy Corp. and Fairmount Energy Inc., announced that they had entered into an acquisition agreement, in which the former will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Fairmount for a consideration of approximately $14.5 million. Delphi shares are up eight cents, that is, 8% to $1.08.
The base metals sector climbed with Teck Resources ahead 50 cents to $28.89.
The financials sector was up ahead of earnings reports coming down next week from most of the big banks. Manulife Financial advanced 62 cents, or 2.9% to $22.02.
In other corporate news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered renewed backing for a bid for General Motors Co.'s Opel unit from Canadian auto parts maker Magna International saying in an interview published Friday that it is "the better concept."
Magna, in a consortium with Russian lender Sberbank, is competing for a majority stake in Opel with Brussels-based investor RHJ International SA and its shares shot up 54 cents, or 1.1%, to $50.15.
Open Text Corp. shares rose 17 cents to $41.47 even as it warned that revenues will be lower than expected from its newly acquired Vignette Corp. online software business, but said it remains on track to meet overall growth expectations.
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.55 cents, to 92.49 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were in positive territory Friday. Metals and mining was the chief celebrant, up 2.1%, followed by information technology, up 2%, and energy and real-estate, up 1.7% each.
The one laggard was the consumer staples group, down 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was up 7.56 points, to 1,191.95, while the Nasdaq Canada Index gained 17.26 points to 761.14
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks surged Friday, with the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all ending at fresh 2009 highs, after Fed chief Ben Bernanke said the economy is near a recovery and existing home sales posted their biggest jump in two years.
The Dow Jones Industrials were 1.7%, or 155.91 points, stronger, to finish at 9,505.96, closing at the highest point since Nov. 4. The S&P 500 index was 18.76 points to 1,026.13, its highest point since Oct. 6 The Nasdaq composite index improved 31.68 points to 2,020.90, to a peak it hadn’t seen since Oct. 1.
Stocks have managed to rally in the last week, despite light trading volume and some worries about the impact of a potential economic slowdown in China. The advance got an additional leg up Friday after the economic news.
In particular, investors welcomed a report that showed existing home sales jumped for the fourth month in a row, rising well beyond forecasts.
Gains were broad-based, with 29 of 30 Dow shares rising, led by Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Boeing, United Technologies, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar and 3M.
Since hitting a more than 12-year low in early March, the S&P 500 has gained more than 50% as investors have moved out of panic mode and into a certain cautious optimism.
That optimism is likely to sustain gains in the short term, as it enables investors to draw more cash out of money market funds and put it to work in riskier assets, according to some experts.
Gap reported higher quarterly earnings that topped forecasts in a report released late Thursday. But the clothing retailer also said sales fell from a year ago. Shares gained 3%.
On the economic front, sales of existing homes spiked 7.2% in July versus June and 5% versus a year ago.
Existing home sales for July rose at a 5.24 million unit annualized rate from a 4.89 million unit annualized rate in June, the fastest monthly pace in two years. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected sales to rise at a 5.1 million unit annual rate.
In other economic news, the number of states showing a drop in the unemployment rate tripled in July from June levels, according to a government report released Friday.
The Fed chief said the U.S. economy is on the cusp of a recovery, speaking at the Kansas City Fed Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Bernanke said that the pace of the recovery will be slow and that unemployment will remain high.
Treasury prices plunged, pushing up the yields on the 10-year note to 3.57% from Thursday’s 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained 98 cents to $73.98 U.S.
Gold prices leaped $13 to $955 U.S. an ounce.
