Equities in Toronto sprang back to life on Thursday as surprisingly strong trade data from China boosted sentiment in the resource-heavy market and lifted shares of mining companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 140.19 points, or 1.1%, to finish a strong Thursday at 12,552.92
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.92 cents to 96.85 cents U.S.
Investors also tried to digest a flood of earnings results, with reports from BCE Inc, Telus Corp, Manulife Financial Corp and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd weighing on those stocks.
The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, climbed, with gold producers leading the gains.
Barrick Gold Corp jumped $1.35, or 8.3% to $17.60, and Goldcorp Inc added $1.70, or 6.5% to $27.88. The two stocks had among the most positive influences on the index.
Shares of Teck Resources Ltd jumped $1.87, or 7.7%, to $26.31, and Potash Corp also rose, 89 cents, or 2.9%, to $31.76.
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd shot up 55 cents, or 12.1%, to $5.10 after Rio Tinto agreed to provide the company with $600 million in financing for its Oyu Tolgoi mining project in Mongolia.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, advanced, as Sun Life Financial Inc was up 2.5% at $33.80 after the insurer late Wednesday reported a surge in quarterly profit. But rival Manulife stumbled 1.4% to $17.79, after its second-quarter earnings missed market estimates.
Canadian Natural gained 19 cents to $31.80 after its quarterly net earnings fell from a year ago.
Telus slipped 1.6% to $30.63 and BCE lost 1.5% to $41.90 after results from the two telecom providers disappointed investors.
Canadian Tire Corp jumped 7.1% to $89.45 after the retailer said it would seek a financial partner for its $4.4 billion credit card portfolio to reduce funding risks.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported that new housing prices rose 0.2% in June, following a 0.1% increase in May. This continued a series of similar gains over the past 15 months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 8.20 points to 915.33
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher on the day, led by metals and mining, spiking 7.4%, while gold gained 7.2%, and materials, up 5.9%.
The two laggards were utilities, down 1.2%, telecoms, off 1%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks edged higher amid choppy midday trading Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27.65 points to end Thursday at 15,498.30
The S&P 500 index was positive 6.57 points to 1,697.48. The NASDAQ was better by 15.12 points to 3,669.12
U.S. stocks have been under pressure this week, partly on fears of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting back on its massive quantitative easing campaign, which has flooded the markets with liquidity.
Even with the modest declines this week, stocks are still up 18% to 23% this year.
Investors cheered strong earnings from Groupon and Tesla.
Groupon surged after the daily deals site posted strong sales and announced a $300-million U.S. share-buyback program. The rally bumped Groupon's market valuation to $7.3 billion U.S., well above the benchmark $6-billion U.S. figure that Google reportedly offered for the company in 2011.
Tesla shares rallied after the electric-car maker reported a surprise quarterly profit. Tesla's Model S also got the top crash test rating from the government and the stock was generating plenty of buzz among traders
But Solar City, which is chaired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, reported a wider loss than analysts had expected. The stock tumbled on the news.
J.C. Penney was a top gainer in the S&P 500 following reports that the struggling retailer started to search for a new CEO to replace its interim head executive, Mike Ullman.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters shares fell following quarterly sales figures that missed expectations.
T-Mobile topped revenue forecasts and said it had a net addition of 1.1 million customers during the quarter. Apollo Global Management swung to a quarterly profit and Priceline.com is up after the close.
Priceline's stock price is approaching $1,000 U.S. And shares of Priceline competitor Orbitz soared more than 40% after it reported solid earnings.
On the economic front, strong corporate results and a better-than-expected report from the U.S. Labor Department were helping give markets a lift.
The department said jobless claims rose by 5,000 last week to 333,000, slightly lower than expected.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury inched higher, lowering yields to 2.59% from Wednesday’s 2.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell back 75 cents to $103.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices prospered $24.60 to $1,309.90 U.S. an ounce.
