Canada's main stock index reported marginal gains on Friday, despite lusterless bank earnings and continued weakness in oil and gas shares, a day after its biggest single-day drop in 18 months.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 25.38 points to greet noon Friday at 14,495.37, following Thursday’s plunge of 284 points.
The Canadian dollar moved down 0.33 cents to 87.53 cents U.S.
Shares in Bank of Nova Scotia lost 2% to $66.24 after Canada's number-three lender reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit on previously announced charges related to soured bets in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Other banks whose results have failed to impress also slipped. Toronto-Dominion Bank was down 0.7% at $53.67 and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was off 1.3% at $102.18.
National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada were the only two of the country's Big Six banks to have met or exceeded market expectations for fourth-quarter profits.
Gold miners were also among the biggest laggards, tracking the falling price of bullion after U.S. jobs data beat forecasts. Barrick Gold lost 2.5% to $13.24 and Goldcorp fell 1.5% to $22.41.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that Canada's economy lost more than 10,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate inched up to 6.6%
Moreover, the agency reported that our merchandise imports increased 0.5% to $44.8 billion in October. Exports edged up 0.1% to $44.9 billion. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the world narrowed from $307 million in September to $99 million in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 3.58 points to 703.80
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, with information technology up 2.1%, metals and mining up 1.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks ahead 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed by gold, down 1.9%, utilities, off 0.8%, and real-estate, down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, lifting the S&P 500 and Dow industrials into uncharted terrain, as investors embraced a stronger-than-forecast November payrolls report as backing the view the economy can handle rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2015.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 76.67 points to pause for lunch at 17,976.77, with JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group leading blue-chip gains that included 19 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 pulled ahead 6.34 points to 2,078.26, with financials pacing sector gains, as higher interest rates would boost bank earnings, and energy performed most poorly among its 10 major industry groups.
The NASDAQ index added 18.02 points to 4,787.46
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8%, with non-farm payrolls posting their tenth consecutive month above a 200,000 reading.
Another report Friday had orders for U.S. factory goods falling 0.7% in October.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries weakened, raising yields to 2.32% from Thursday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.08 to $65.73 U.S.
Gold prices fell $14.20 at $1,193.50 U.S.
