Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, helped by gains in key energy sector amid a robust 2.5% surge in crude oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index leaped 147.88 points, or 1%, to open Friday’s session at 14,360.63
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.23 cents at 74.41 U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Hudson's Bay Co, which soared 85 cents, or 11.6%, to $8.20, and Canada Goose Holdings, which galloped $3.39, or 6%, to $60.25.
Back to the Bay, an entity controlled by Hudson's Bay Chairman Richard Baker will buy the stake owned by a unit of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in the Canadian retailer, according to L&T B Cayman Inc, a top shareholder in Hudson's Bay and a joint buyer.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has rejected Canadian electric utility Hydro One's proposed $6.7-billion acquisition of Avista Corp. Hydro One shares eked up a penny to $20.23.
Desjardins cut the target price on Stingray Group to $9.00 from $11.00. Stingray moved ahead four cents to $6.70.
Iamgold Corp dropped 27 cents, or 5.1%, the most on the TSX, to $4.99, while the second-biggest decliner was Eldorado Gold, down 30 cents, or 6.4%, to $4.36
On the economic calendar, the number of jobs in Canada held steady during December. Statistics Canada also says the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6%.
What’s more, the agency Industrial Product Price Index decreased 0.8% in November, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index fell 11.7%, largely reflecting lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 3.37 points to 581.86
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green in the first hour, as energy sprang to life 2.4%, health-care was haler 2.1%, and consumer discretionary picked up 2%.
The two laggards were gold, down 2.5%, and materials, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rallied on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will be patient in raising rates.
The Dow Jones Industrials Index surged 578.77 to begin a wild session, nearing the end of a wild week, at 23,264.99, as Boeing, UnitedHealth and 3M outperformed.
The S&P 500 restored 64.3 points, or 2.7%, to 2,513.69, with the tech sector gaining more than 2.5%.
The NASDAQ Composite regained 205.78 points, or 3.2%, to 6,669.29
Netflix popped 4.4%, and Intel gained 4.5%. Netflix rose after Goldman Sachs added the streaming service to its conviction buy list.
Dow-member Intel rose after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded it to buy from neutral.
The gains in Netflix and Intel also lifted other tech-related stocks. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google-parent Alphabet all rose more than 2%.
Friday’s gains also come after the release of stronger-than-expected employment data. The U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs last month, much more than the expected 176,000.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury slid sharply, raising yields to 2.66% from Thursday’s 2.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.53 to $48.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hesitated $13.40 at $1,281.40 U.S. an ounce.
