The Toronto stock market was higher mid-afternoon Friday as oil prices surged despite data which showed that U.S. economic growth in the first quarter wasn’t as great as originally thought.
The S&P TSX Composite Index ended the day ahead 37.67 points to 11,707.85, on lower-than-usual volume with many traders working from home or on holiday while Toronto prepares to host the G20 summit this weekend.
The market dropped 219.74 points or 1.8% on the week.
Gains Friday would have been even higher had it not been for a disappointing earnings report from Research In Motion Ltd.
Shares in RIM lost $6.98 or 11.4% to $54.11 after the company delivered quarterly earnings of $768.9 million U.S. after the markets closed Thursday, which beat analyst estimates. However, revenue missed forecasts, coming in at $4.24 billion, below the $4.32 billion estimated, but higher than the $3.42 billion a year ago
The TSX energy sector was up and Canadian Natural Resources rose 30 cents to $36.74 while Imperial Oil climbed 22 cents to $40.65.
The gold sector was stronger, as Barrick Gold Corp. gained $1.51 to $48.06 while Goldcorp Inc. was up 89 cents to $46.98.
The base metals sector rose as the July copper contract rose 10 cents at $3.10 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources was ahead 57 cents to $35.06 and Western Coal Corp. advanced 20 cents to $4.79.
Shares of Magna International slipped 50 cents to $72.50 after the Ontario Securities Commission delayed a shareholder vote on a plan to buy voting control of the firm from founder Frank Stronach because shareholders were not given enough information.
It was not immediately clear when a vote could be held, but Magna still has until Aug. 31 until the proposal expires.
In other corporate news, Bombardier Inc. shares rose six cents to $5.09 after the company was selected as the winning bidder for a half-ownership in the engineering division of Russian Railways, beating out a German rival in terms of both price and technology.
Arise Technologies Corp. will transfer some of its employees to a new joint venture that will be funded by a multinational company headquartered in Beijing. The joint venture formed by Arise and Sky Solar (Canada) Ltd. will supply engineering, procurement and contracting (EPC) services for solar projects under an Ontario provincial government program that was announced last October.
Arise shares jumped 1.5 cents or 6.7% to 24 cents.
Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. shares plunged four cents or 44.4% to five cents on heavy volume of 21.8 million shares. The small Calgary research firm said it still can’t explain definitively why stroke victims who received its drug didn’t do any better than those who got a placebo in a controlled trial.
The company says it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to proceed with the next stage of trials anyway.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said non-farm payroll employment rose for a third-straight month, adding 35,600 in April and taking the total gains since August 2009 to 166,900
The Canadian dollar shed 0.41 cents to 96.55 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
On the day, all but four of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher. Gold advanced 2.5%, while materials jumped 1.9% and metals and mining issues popped 1.4%.
Of the four laggards, information technology suffered the biggest loss at 2.4%, while consumer discretionaries fell 0.6% and financials stepped back 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange added 6.97 points to 1,458.72 while the Nasdaq Canada index stumbled 40.17 points to 627.27
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, financial shares rallied Friday on relief that the new version of the Wall Street reform bill is less restrictive than had been expected, but the broader market was mixed at the end of a down week on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished behind 8.99 points at 10,143.81, a decline of 306.83 points, or 2.9%, over the last five trading days.
The S&P 500 index recovered 3.07 points to 1,076.76. The Nasdaq composite index moved 6.06 points into positive territory to 2,223.48.
Stocks seesawed in the morning after economic growth in the first quarter was revised lower. Initially, investors showed little reaction to the news that lawmakers in the House and the Senate finalized negotiations on the most sweeping financial reform since the New Deal.
But as the session wore on, the tone improved and the rally in bank shares spread to the broader market.
Banks, techs, drug makers and energy shares were among the gainers, but some of the big consumer product names stumbled, leaving markets mixed on the session.
Stocks lost ground this week after a two-week advance, as economic worries resurfaced after a brief reprieve. The market has been firmly in "correction" mode -- down at least 10% from the highs -- for over a month now.
The recent attempt to erase those losses petered out this week amid worse-than-expected reports on housing, manufacturing and on Friday, GDP.
After two weeks of negotiations following a year of work, lawmakers in Washington have combined two versions of a reform bill that will overhaul the financial system. The final bill won't be passed for a few days.
Proposed in the wake of the financial market meltdown, the bill's highlights include: the establishment of a consumer protection agency inside the Federal Reserve; mortgage help for the jobless; and the establishment of a council to look out for problems at major banks and throughout the financial system.
While most of the stock market was flat to lower, the financial sector rallied on relief that the part of the bill that regulates trading was not as strident as some had feared.
The government would be given the ability to regulate derivatives -- complex securities that were used by speculators in a way that contributed to the collapse of the housing market. But the regulations are looser than initially proposed. Also, the government will be able to limit, but not stop, banks from making trades on their own accounts.
Financial shares rallied, with the KBW Bank sector index adding 2.4%. Components Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Comerica and PNC Financial Services Group were among the gainers.
Economically speaking, growth in the first three months of the year progressed at a slower pace than originally reported, the government said Friday, with consumers spending less than originally thought.
GDP grew at a 2.7% annualized rate in the first quarter versus the previously reported 3%. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought growth would hold steady at 3%.
In other economic news, the University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for June was revised up to 76 from the previous reading of 75.5. Economists thought it would hold steady, on average. The index stood at 73.6 in May.
Treasury prices gained slightly, lowering the 10-year note's yield to 3.11% from Thursday’s 3.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil was up $2.56 to $79.07 U.S.
Gold prices added $10 to $1,256 U.S. an ounce.
