Canadian stocks rose on Friday as financial stocks gained with higher bond yields and Open Text Corp jumped after its earnings, while gold miners weighed.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 52.48 points to move into noon hour at 15,244.44, on track for a 0.6% gain on the week.
The Canadian dollar deducted 0.39 cents to 79.14 cents U.S.
Open Text rose 4% to $43.63 as several analysts increased their price targets on the business software company's stock after its quarterly earnings impressed.
Gold miners were among the heaviest weights on the day as the spot price of the precious metal took a hit from the U.S. data supporting expectations of tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.
Barrick Gold declined 2.3% to $20.97, Goldcorp lost 1.9% to C$15.79, and Kinross Gold fell 3.9% to $5.24.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, fell, with First Majestic Silver Corp down 11% to $8.62 after its reporting disappointing earnings and outlook.
It’s been a busy Friday on the economic calendar, ahead of a long weekend in much of Canada. The economy created 11,000 jobs during July, dropping the jobless rate two-10ths of a percentage point to 6.3%, the lowest rate since October 2008, just prior to the onset of the 2008-2009 labour market downturn.
Analysts expected a jump of 10,000 jobs and an unemployment rate at 6.5%.
Elsewhere, Canada's merchandise trade balance with the world posted a $3.6 billion deficit in June, widening from a $1.4-billion deficit in May. Exports fell 4.3% while imports edged up 0.3%.
The trade gap was expected to have widened slightly to $1.35 billion in June.
Elsewhere, Western University’s IVEY Purchasing Managers' index faded to 60 in July, from June 61.6 and a 57 reading in July 2016. The index measures purchases by purchasing managers over the month, and any reading over 50 suggests expansion in purchases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.3 points to 764.20
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups remained positive midday, with energy up 1.5%, information technology shares moving up 1.3%, and consumer discretionary notching up 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, dulling in price 1.7%, health-care, off 0.6%, and materials, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly higher on Friday on better-than-expected employment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 35.92 points onto its all-time high, to 22,062.02, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains
The S&P 500 regained 3.59 points to 2,475.75, with financials rising 1% to lead advancers
The NASDAQ gained 9.69 points to 6,350.03
Univar Inc. and Sempar Energy are part of a sparse crowd declaring earnings after a busy season.
The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last month, according to the U.S. Labor Department, well above the expected gain of 183,000.
The closely watched wage number was unchanged from previous months, with average hourly earnings up 2.5%. The average work week also was unchanged at 34.5 hours.
On Thursday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal first reported that Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation on Russia, impaneled a grand jury.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slumped, raising yields to 2.27% from Thursday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 52 cents to $49.55 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices remained in the red $11.60 to $1,262.80 U.S. an ounce.
