The Toronto stock market was higher Friday as job creation data in the U.S. came in well above expectations.
The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 20.36 points to greet noon Friday at 14,292.28
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.81 cents at 90.21 cents U.S.
The tech sector gained ground paced by an 8% gain in Constellation Software
The energy component climbed while Penn West Petroleum Ltd. had a quarterly net loss of $728 million or $1.49 a share compared with a year-earlier net loss of $78 million or 16 cents per share.
The most recent loss was mostly due to non-cash asset impairment charges related to the company's disposal of natural gas assets. Penn West shares advanced 24 cents to $8.94.
The National Energy Board has given the go-ahead to Enbridge's plan to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of its Line 9 pipeline that runs between Sarnia, Ont., and Montreal.
The approval is subject to a number of conditions, which include Enbridge being required to undertake activities involving pipeline integrity and emergency response and its shares rose 19 cents to $48.73.
The metals and mining sector declined, as May copper tumbled 11 cents to $3.10 U.S. a pound amid worries about Chinese growth.
Air Canada says its system load factor for February decreased to 79% compared with 79.8% a year ago as it added capacity faster than traffic grew. Its shares added 11 cents to $6.59.
And WestJet Airlines is cutting its revenue expectations due to softer domestic demand and a larger than expected impact from the Easter and Passover holidays.
The airline expects revenue per available seat mile for the first quarter to be flat to down slightly year over year, compared with earlier expectations of it to be flat or up slightly. Westjet gained 10 cents to 425.60.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the economy shed about 7,000 jobs in February, thus keeping the unemployment rate at 7%. There has been little overall employment growth in Canada since August 2013. However, compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased by 95,000, or 0.5%.
Moreover, the agency also said that our merchandise imports declined 1.6% while exports edged up 0.2% in January. Thus, Canada's trade deficit with the world narrowed from $922 million in December to $177 million in January.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped into negative territory by 1.96 points to 1,037.40
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive with information technology leading the pack, up 2%, energy better by 0.9% and consumer discretionary stocks advancing 0.8%.
Metals and mining weighed most on the five laggards, down 2.9%, global base metals, off 1.7%, and materials, fading 1.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were mixed Friday, as the enthusiasm following a better-than-expected jobs report wore off.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained positive 28.77 points to 16,450.66 by noon ET.
The S&P 500 index sank 0.46 points to 1,876.57. The NASDAQ dipped 20 points to 4,332.13.
Biogen Idec and Vertex Pharmaceuticals were down more than 3% each. Biotech stocks have been one of the better performers this year but have recently begun to lose momentum.
Foot Locker rose after the athletic apparel retailer reported stronger-than-expected results, including a 5.3% jump in same-store sales. Shares of Nike gained ground as well.
Big Lots climbed after the closeout retail chain posted slightly better quarterly revenue.
Shares of Coupons.com soared 90% on their first day of trading Friday. The online coupon company sold shares at $16 U.S. apiece in its initial public offering late Thursday, above the expected range.
And shares in the supermarket chain Safeway fell following news that it will be bought by Albertsons, the supermarket chain controlled by private equity firm Cerberus.
Investors were encouraged after the government's report showed that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs last month, an improvement from January and ahead of economists' expectations.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7%, from 6.6% the prior month as more Americans joined the labour force.
The improvement also provides the Federal Reserve, which has begun scaling back, or tapering, its bond buying program by $10 billion U.S. a month, with more reasons to continue down its planned path, experts say
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sank, raising yields to 2.79% from Thursday’s 2.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $1.09 to $102.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $12.70 to $1,339.10 U.S. an ounce.
