The Toronto stock market was slightly higher Friday at the end of a positive week with the TSX powered higher by earnings news and positive manufacturing data from China.
The S&P/TSX composite index remained positive 10.89 points to greet noon at 13,335.64
The Canadian dollar fell 0.30 cents to 95.69 cents U.S.
CP was in focus Friday after its biggest shareholder sharply narrowed its position. Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management has sold about a third of its holding in the railroad.
CP, which reported a record quarterly profit on Wednesday, said the hedge fund has sold 5.96 million CP shares for about $140.00 U.S. a share, bringing the total divestment so far to seven million shares.
On Friday morning, CP shares gained 91 cents to $148.86, which is more than triple their level when Pershing Square began building up its stake in the railroad.
The beaten-down utilities sector advanced. The interest-rate sensitive sector has been under selling pressure since June amid speculation over when the U.S. Federal Reserve may start to wind down its monthly $85 billion of bond purchases.
Canadian Utilities climbed 47 cents to $37.70.
Commodities were mixed and the TSX energy sector climbed. Suncor Energy gained 48 cents to $37.55.
The TSX gold sector was down while Goldcorp dropped 72 cents to $27.04.
The base metals component gave back some of its strength after gaining Thursday in the wake of data showing stronger than expected expansion in the Chinese manufacturing sector as December copper lost two cents to $3.25 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources was 37 cents lower to $30.17.
The tech sector was negative with CGI Group down 72 cents to $35.17. A subsidiary, CGI Federal, was one of the main contractors for the U.S. government's troubled healthcare insurance website and its shares have slid 8.5% since Oct. 16.
A congressional committee was told this week that the government didn't allow enough time to test the system before it went online Oct. 1.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 1.83 points to 970.87
Losers outnumbered gainers among the 14 Toronto subgroups by eight to six. Gold stocks skidded 0.9%, materials were down 0.6%, and health-care issues were 0.5% less robust.
The half-dozen gainers were led by utilities, up 1.1%, telecoms, ahead 0.7%, and energy stocks, better by 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Tech stocks surged Friday morning after several companies reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials improved 25.62 points – off its highs of the morning -- to pause for midday at 15,534.80
The S&P 500 index added 0.87 points to 1,752.94. The NASDAQ took on 5.25 points to 3,934.21, now within striking distance of 4,000, a level it last hit in September 2000.
Amazon posted a loss but sales were much better than forecasts. Amazon's shares soared more than 10% in early trading. Microsoft easily topped estimates for sales and profits. Microsoft's stock shot up more than 7%.
Even Zynga, the troubled online video game company, surprised Wall Street by reporting losses that were slimmer than expected, sending shares up more than 10%.
Still, UPS is confident that consumers will be shopping in force over the holidays. The shipping giant predicted a robust holiday season, which sent shares higher.
The company also reported quarterly income that exceeded forecasts. Earlier this week, UPS rival FedEx said it thought that Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, will be its busiest day ever.
Twitter revealed late Thursday that it plans to raise upwards of $1.4 billion U.S. in its initial public offering, selling 70 million shares at between $17 and $20 U.S. per share. At the high end of that range, Twitter would be worth nearly $11 billion U.S.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Census Bureau revealed durable goods orders jumped 3.7% in September, versus 0.2% in August.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, lowering yields to 2.50% from Thursday’s 2.52%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 45 cents to $97.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $4.10 to $1,346.20 U.S. an ounce.
