Bay Street's market continued an upward move on Friday, led by energy stocks.
Shortly before the closing bell, the S&P TSX Composite index had advanced 89.89 points, or 0.8% to 11,244.89, putting the index on target for a fresh 11 1/2-month high. The market was up for a sixth time in seven sessions.
Energy stocks were the leaders among the gainers. EnCana rallied 7.3% to $63.65 after the company revealed will split into a namesake pure-play natural gas company and an integrated oil company to be named Cenovus Energy both to be based in Calgary.
Gold stocks were up as the precious metal hit a fresh 18-month high. Eldorado added 3.3% to $12.80, Agnico-Eagle Mines picked up 3.3% to $75.90 and Goldcorp advanced 1% to $44.42.
In other corporate news, Jaguar Mining slipped 1.1% to $10.58 after the company said that it has entered into an agreement with a group of initial purchasers to issue and sell $150 million U.S. of 4.50% senior convertible notes due 2014.
Harry Winston Diamond dropped 4.1% to $7.93 after the company posted second quarter net loss of $24.5 million U.S. or $0.32 U.S. per share, compared to net earnings of $49.9 million U.S. or $0.81 U.S. per share in the prior-year quarter.
Compton Petroleum Corp. plunged nearly 19.7% to $1.22 after the company announced it will issue an aggregate of 120 million units on a bought deal basis at a price of $1.25 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $150 million.
Bridgewater Systems moved up 3.6% to $6.89 after the company said it has been awarded additional orders worth about $18.8 million U.S. from Verizon Wireless
Viterra added 1.7% to $9.77 after the company posted third-quarter net earnings of $120.7 million or $0.51 per share, compared to $166.7 million or $0.71 per share in the last-year quarter.
On the economic front, Canadian new home prices rose 0.3% in July following a 0.2% decline in June. This was the first increase since September 2008. Economists expected new home prices to slip 0.1% in July.
The Canadian dollar nipped up 0.04 cents, to 92.73 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine were in the black to end the week. Energy stocks led the way, with a 2.5% gain. Gold stocks were next, up 1.1%, while real-estate stocks gained 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed by health-care, 0.6% less well off, telecoms, which sagged 0.4% and industrials, down 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange surged 12.40 points, or 1%, to 1,261.89, while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 2.01 points to 792.03.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slipped Friday, as falling oil prices dragged on the influential commodities sector and investors took a step back after pushing the major indexes to 11-month highs in the previous session.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 22.07 points to end a short week at 9,605.41. The S&P 500 index let go of 1.41 points to 1,042.73. The Nasdaq composite index was down 3.12 points, to 2,080.90.
Stocks managed slim gains through midday as investors welcomed FedEx's upbeat profit forecast and a jump in consumer sentiment, but the gains were shaky on the heels of a five-session advance.
Stocks rallied Thursday as a well-received debt auction and Procter & Gamble's improved forecast added to recovery hopes.
The weak dollar, higher commodity prices and investor fears of missing out on a rally have all contributed to the rally's most recent leg. However, this week's advance has been fueled by light trading volume, suggesting investors are reluctant to commit.
Investors have also been pulling money out of stocks and funds and putting it into cash or bonds. Tracker Trim Tabs said equity mutual funds and ETFs are on track to post the first monthly outflows since March.
Since bottoming March 9 at a more than 12-year low, the S&P 500 has risen 54% as investors have gone from pricing in a depression to a recession to a recovery.
Tuesday will mark the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an event seen as exacerbating the recession and pushing the economy into crisis mode.
Ahead of that, President Obama will speak Monday about the steps his administration has taken to "bring the economy back from the brink" and make sure a collapse at that level doesn't happen again.
Dollar-traded commodity prices have been rising on the weak greenback and on bets of a global economic recovery. But oil prices reversed course Friday, despite the still-weak dollar, dragging oil stocks down in tandem.
U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell in price, battering Dow components Exxon Mobil and Chevron. However, stock declines were broad based, with 23 of 30 Dow issues falling. In addition to the oil components, other big losers included IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble.
FedEx, often seen as a proxy for the economy, lifted its fiscal first- and second-quarter earnings forecasts due to cost cutting and stronger international shipments.
FedEx said it expects to earn 58 cents U.S. per share in the first quarter versus its earlier forecast for a profit of 44 cents U.S. per share. The company expects to earn between 65 and 95 cents U.S. per share in the second quarter versus its earlier prediction of 70 cents U.S. FedEx shares gained 6%.
Economically speaking, the August Treasury budget was released in the afternoon. The deficit grew by $111.4 billion U.S. in August versus forecasts for a deficit of $139.5 billion U.S. The deficit for the first 11 months of the fiscal year stood at $1.38 trillion U.S.
Also, the University of Michigan's initial reading on consumer sentiment rose to 70.2 in September from 65.7 in late August. That topped the 67.5 reading economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting and is the highest reading since June.
But for sentiment to make more substantial gains, investors will need to see a recovery in the labour market, some experts said.
The report showed that only 16% of consumers said their finances had improved, the smallest percentage on record since the university first asked the question in 1946. Only 25% of consumers said they expected income gains over the next year.
Elsewhere, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its August data for import prices, showing that prices rose 2% last month. That's twice what analysts expected.
Not including petroleum, prices rose 0.4%, the government said. Export prices edged up 0.7%.
And the Commerce Department reported that wholesale inventories fell 1.4% in July after falling a revised 2.1% in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought inventories would fall by 1%. It was the 11th consecutive month investors dropped.
Treasury prices ended the day slightly higher, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.34% from Thursday’s 3.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil slid $2.65 to $69.33 U.S.
Gold prices were ahead $10 at $1,006 U.S. an ounce.
