Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre acquired some long-lost strength on Friday after a rebound in China's major stock indexes helped sentiment and crude oil prices edged higher, while data showed solid jobs gains for both the U.S. and Canada.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 51.53 points to open Friday at 12,499.74. The index has fallen seven consecutive days, the longest losing streak since November.
The Canadian dollar was static at 70.83 cents U.S. early Friday.
TransCanada Corp faces a rocky legal path as it seeks to overturn U.S. President Barack Obama's denial of its Keystone XL pipeline or at least recoup some of its lost investment in the multi-billion-dollar project.
TransCanada shares dipped four cents to $42.90.
BMO cut the target price on Jean Coutu Group to $19.00 from $20.0, with a market perform rating. Coutu shares removed 34 cents, or 1.9%, to $17.59.
JP Morgan cut the target price on Precision Drilling Corp. to $5.00 from $6.00 with a neutral rating. Precision shares fell eight cents, or 1.7%, to $4.70.
CIBC raised the rating on Silver Wheaton Corp. to outperform from sector performer. Silver Wheaton shares added 10 cents to $18.42.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the economy added 23,000 jobs in December, keeping the unemployment rate at 7.1%.
Also, the agency reported that building permits was down 19.6% from October to $6.2 billion in November, falling below the $7-billion mark for first time since May 2015.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.2 points, or 1.3%, to 513.75
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher to begin the day, with utilities up 1.1%, information technology advancing 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks ahead 0.6%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, sliding 1.6%, while energy and materials slid 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher Friday, attempting to recover from a sharply lower start to the year, amid stabilization in global markets and the December employment report.
The Dow Jones industrial average eked higher 13.29 points to 16,527.39, as Chevron and Exxon Mobil declined as the greatest contributors to losses on the index.
The S&P 500 inched up 5.58 points to 1,948.67, with information technology leading nine sectors higher and energy the only decliner.
The NASDAQ index moved up 24.57 points to 4,713.99.
The December employment report showed creation of 292,000 jobs and the unemployment rate at 5% south of the border. Average hourly earnings declined one cent, for an annualized gain of 2.5%, mostly because wages were unusually weak in December 2014.
Expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes in 2016 rose Friday after the jobs report. Two more employment reports and other data are due before the central bank is next expected to consider another rate rise, in March.
Elsewhere on the economic front, wholesale inventories fell 0.3% in November. Wholesale sales fell 1% in November.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 2.15% from Thursday’s 2.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 12 cents a barrel to $33.15 U.S.
Gold prices dulled $6.09 to $1,102.88 U.S. an ounce.
