Equities in Toronto pushed higher on Friday with mining and energy stocks big beneficiaries of a weak U.S. jobs report that weighed on the U.S. dollar and, in turn, boosted commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite surged 116.41 points to greet noon at 14,800.32
The Canadian dollar added 0.65 cents at 76.97 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the TSX included Suncor Energy, which rose 1.2% to $35.63, and Canadian Natural Resources, which advanced 1.4% to $41.33.
Barrick Gold advanced 2.2% to $23.82 and Goldcorp Inc rose 2.7% to $20.97. Diversified miner Teck Resources advanced 3.5% to $22.37.
Of the few declining stocks, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International weighed most heavily, down 3.1% to $36.93.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's exports increased 3.4% to $42.7 billion in July. Imports edged down 0.1% to $45.2 billion.
As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from a record $4.0 billion in June to $2.5 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange soared 11.05 points, or 1.4%, to 805.05
All 12 TSX subgroups were higher midday, with gold, energy and materials each up 1.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded higher on Friday, with energy gaining 1%, following a disappointing employment report.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained higher 80.71 points to arrive at lunch hour at 18,500.01, with Boeing leading advancers and Pfizer the only laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 8.37 points to 2,179.23, with utilities leading all sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 20.71 points to 5,247.92, as Apple advanced approximately 0.5%.
The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in August, with the jobless rate coming at 4.9%. Economists had forecast 180,000 were added last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.8%.
Investors were anxiously expecting the jobs report as they looked for more clues about whether the Fed would raise interest rates in September. Market expectations for a rate hike in September fell to 24% from 27% following the report's release. Expectations also fell as low as 12% Friday.
Other data due Friday include factory orders, which rose 1.9%, slightly below the expected 2%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.61% from Thursday’s 1.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.
Oil prices acquired $1.32 at $44.48 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices picked up $6.20 at $1,323.3 0 U.S. an ounce.
