Stocks in Toronto rose on Friday, led by energy and financial stocks as stronger-than-expected Chinese inflation data supported global equity markets.
The S&P/TSX Composite faded 28.94 points to greet noon at 14,614.77. Still, the index was on track for a 1% gain on the week.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.2 cents to 76 cents U.S.
Teck Resources rebounded 3.3% to $24.70 after falling on Thursday with weak Chinese data.
The country's biggest banks and energy companies featured among its most influential gainers, with Royal Bank of Canada up 0.7% to $83.15 and Suncor Energy Inc advancing 0.8% to $37.88.
Goldcorp declined 1.9% to $19.03 and Kinross Gold fell 2% to $4.86.
September producer prices in China unexpectedly rose for the first time in nearly five years, while consumer inflation also beat expectations, easing some concerns about the health of the world's second-biggest economy.
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 1.62 points to 775.88
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher by midday, as utilities improved 0.6%, while industrials and information technology each going up 0.2%
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, down 2.7%, materials, off 1.5%, and health-care, sliding 0.7%.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. equities rose on Friday, but traded well off session highs, as investors digested a fall in oil prices while waiting for a key speech from a Fed official.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off their highs of the morning, still retaining 67.08 points of gains to 18,166.02, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 stayed positive 4.06 points to 2,136.61, with information technology, materials and financials leading advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite hung onto 9.07 points to 5,222.40
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all posted better-than-expected quarterly results, beating estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
One expert commented that earnings season has gotten off to a good start. Of the 34 S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday morning, 79% had beaten Wall Street estimates for earnings per share.
More than 80 S&P components are scheduled to report next week, including Bank of America, streaming giant Netflix, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and United Continental.
In economic news, U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% in September, matching expectations. Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand increased 0.3% after being unchanged in August.
Other data released Friday included October consumer sentiment, which came in at 87.9, well below an estimate of 92. Meanwhile, business inventories rose 0.2% in August.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell a bit, upping yields to 1.76% from Thursday’s 1.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were down 34 cents at $50.10 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices skidded 50 cents to $1,257.10 U.S. an ounce.
