Stocks in Canada’s largest market 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 111.79 points to end the week at 14,795.70
The Canadian dollar added 0.68 cents at 77 cents U.S.
Markets in Canada and the U.S. will be shuttered Monday for Labour Day
Gold was clearly the star of Friday’s show, with gains by Iamgold topping the list – gold benefiting from the U.S. jobs report. Iamgold bolted 36 cents higher, or 7.3%, to $5.29, while Yamana Gold sprinted 37 cents higher, or 6.6%, to $5.94.
Energy powered higher, mostly on the back of Baytex Energy, up 20 cents, or 3.4%, to $6.16, while EnCana galloped 39 cents, or 3.2%, to $12.71.
One of the few areas that did not prosper was health-care, with beleaguered Valeant Pharmaceuticals down 75 cents, or 2%, to $37.34, while Concordia International ducked back 45 cents, or 4.1%, to $10.59.
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 16.92 points, or 2.1%, to 810.92
All but two of 12 TSX subgroups were higher on the day, with gold brightening 2.6%, materials arching up 2.1%, and, energy 1.1% more energetic.
Health-care faded 0.02%, while information technology issues were unchanged Friday.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed higher on Friday, with the three major indexes posting weekly gains, following a disappointing employment report.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained higher 72.66 points to close the week at 18,491.96, with Apple leading advancers and Nike the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 9.12 points to 2,179.98, with utilities leading all sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 22.69 points to 5,249.90
The three indexes were track for weekly gains of about 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 1.6% from Thursday’s 1.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.11 at $44.27 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices picked up $11.20 at $1,328.30 U.S. an ounce.
