The Toronto stock market surged Friday as investors bought stocks across the board following steep declines earlier in the week over worries that high oil prices resulting from the violence in Libya would weigh on other sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 184.82 points, or 1.3%, Friday to end the day and the week at 14,052.13
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.48 cents to 102.2 cents U.S.
The market has closed lower all week as the violence in Libya persuaded investors to take some profits from a surge in stocks that has gone on pretty much without a break since last summer.
But sizable declines in the market generally have been met by investors buying into the dips amid strong economic data and corporate earnings.
The energy sector moved higher as Cenovus Energy advanced 72 cents to $37.55 while Canadian Natural Resources was up $1.29 at $48.35.
The base metals sector was up as copper prices continued to advance. Copper had fallen sharply from a record high of $4.63 U.S. on Feb. 14, hitting a low of $4.28 U.S. earlier this week.
The March contract in New York closed up 11 cents at $4.44 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources rose $1.65 to $54.23 and Equinox Minerals rose 12 cents to $6.27.
Gold stocks were higher while bullion prices faltered after investor nervousness about the Middle East had pushed the precious metal up the previous eight sessions. Goldcorp Inc. improved by $1.55 to $46.00 and Barrick Gold Corp. ran ahead 56 cents to $50.79.
A big, double-digit increase in production allowed Iamgold Corp. to turn around a year-earlier loss and post a big profit in the fourth quarter. The Toronto-based miner said Thursday that fourth-quarter net earnings came in at $144.5 million U.S. or 39 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $47.4 million or 13 cents per share in the same 2009 quarter. Its shares rose $1.17 to $20.50.
The financial sector also lifted the TSX, after CIBC and National Bank delivered earnings reports Thursday that breezed past expectations. Commerce shares subsided 18 cents to $82.25, but National’s gained $1.37 to $74.97. Meantime, Scotiabank rose 65 cents to $60.00 and TD Bank climbed $1.61 to $80.96.
In other earnings news, private equity investment firm Onex Corp. reported Thursday a fourth-quarter net loss of $3 million, falling from a $40-million profit in the same quarter a year ago despite a 6% increase in revenues to $6.5 billion. Its shares gained 35 cents to $34.35.
Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. shares were flat at $13.34 as the company said Friday it expects to spend $591 million this year, up from an earlier estimate of $525 million, driven mostly by higher costs at its Endako expansion project. The company said the cost to expand and develop its mines is rising as the entire mining industry ramps up to meet growing demand from the world economy.
A London stock trading system that crashed for several hours this morning could become the technology platform at the Toronto Stock Exchange if a merger between the two is completed.
The LSE suspended dealings shortly after the opening auction, blaming issues with market data technology just two weeks after it introduced its new Millennium platform.
Shares in TMX Group, Canada’s largest market operator, were down 53 cents at $40.19.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recouped 46.94 points after Thursday’s losses to close at 2,375.62, while the Nasdaq Canada index advanced 9.27 points to 815.96.
In Toronto, all but two of the 14 subgroups remained positive to the final bell. Materials surged 2.5%, metals and mining stocks moved 2.4% higher, and global base metals improved 1.8%
Only utilities, which folded 0.3%, and health-care stocks, which dropped 0.1%, missed the fun
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, after one of its worst weeks in months, U.S. stocks posted solid gains on Friday, as fear in both the stock and oil markets eased.
The Dow Jones industrial average was 61.95 points higher to close the day at 12,130.50.
The S&P 500 was up 13.78 points to 1,319.88. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 43.15 points to 2,781.05.
The Dow was led higher by shares of Boeing, which rose 3.2% after the Defense Department awarded the aerospace giant a $35-billion U.S. tanker contract. Shares of Intel were also higher, up 3%.
Today's gains come after the blue chips posted losses for three consecutive sessions, losing 285 points this week, or 2.5%. Monday and Tuesday's plunges were the first back-to-back triple-digit declines since June.
Part of today's market gain was related to the price of oil, investors said. Crude swung between modest gains and losses on Friday, trading at around $98 U.S. a barrel in late-morning trading.
While still hovering near $100 U.S. a barrel, crude is now about $5 U.S. below the high it hit earlier this week.
Autodesk shares jumped 6% after the company reported a 23% rise in earnings after Thursday's closing bell.
Shares of Salesforce.com rose 4.5% on Friday after the company reported a 29% jump in fourth-quarter sales.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.8% in the fourth quarter. This is a revision from a preliminary report.
The GDP revision was much less than 3.3% increase economists forecasted, according to a consensus surveyed by Briefing.com.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury recovered lost ground, lowering the yield to 3.42% from Thursday’s 3.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil for February delivery grew $1.04 to $98.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery dipped $6.90, or about 0.5%, to $1,408.90 U.S. an ounce.
