Equity markets in Toronto rose on Friday, boosted by gains in gold and materials stocks in the first session of 2015 even as crude oil prices continued to slide.
The S&P/TSX composite index improved 66.97 points to greet noon at 14,699.41
The Canadian dollar slid 0.88 cents to 85.19 cents U.S.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metal miners, rose while financial and energy stocks slipped. Oil, which has weighed on the resource-heavy index for months, fell further on continuing concerns about a supply glut.
Gold miners rose as spot gold prices reversed losses. Goldcorp led the sector, rising 1.8% to $21.90, while the materials sector was also substantially higher.
Financial stocks fell, but the biggest banks were mostly flat. Royal Bank of Canada was up 0.04% at $80.27.
Energy stocks also slipped, but some major companies were higher. TransCanada Corp rose 1.2% to $57.74, while Enbridge rose 0.7% to $60.12.
It’s a light day for economic news, save that the seasonally adjusted RBC Canadian Manufacturing PMI remained in firm expansion territory at the end of the year, signaling a further improvement in manufacturers' operating conditions.
However, the headline PMI fell from November's 55.3 to a three-month low of 53.9 in December, suggesting that operating conditions improved at a slightly weaker rate. The average PMI reading for the fourth quarter of 54.8 was the joint-best since the third quarter of 2011.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.87 points to 699.40.
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher, led by the gold and metals and mining groups, higher by 2.8%, while materials were up 2%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by financials, down 0.5%, industrials, sliding 0.4%, and consumer discretionaries, off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks edged lower on Friday, erasing earlier gains as investors found few reasons to buy in the New Year as crude oil prices continued to weaken and data came in below forecasts.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 11.80 points to 17,811.27.
The S&P 500 moved lower 2.24 points to 2,056.66.
The NASDAQ index moved downward 15.32 points to 4,720.73.
Marathon Oil fell 0.6% to $28.12 U.S. while Newfield Exploration sank 2.3% to $26.49 U.S. Crude is set for its 13th negative week out of the past 14, and is at levels not seen since 2009.
On Thursday, when the stock market was closed for the New Year's holiday, General Motors Co announced three new vehicle recalls, the biggest involving the ignition-switch design of several SUV and pickup truck models. Shares fell 1% to $34.53 U.S.
In the economic realm, the Institute for Supply Management index came in at 55.5 in December, below expectations of a decline to 57.6 from 58.7 in November; separately, construction spending dropped 0.3% in November, versus a projected 0.3% gain.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, weighing yields to 2.11% from Wednesday’s 2.17%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved higher by 17 cents per barrel to $53.44 U.S.
Gold prices gained $5.30 an ounce at $1,189.40 U.S.
