Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, as shares of material companies gained on the back of higher gold prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index hiked 73.28 points to greet noon at 16,484.16
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.24 cents to 74.48 cents
Hudbay Minerals Inc rose 1.7% after the company said it had agreed with Waterton Global Resource Management Inc, its second largest shareholder, to elect a slate of 11 board members that includes some of the nominees proposed by both parties.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Pretium Resources, which jumped 9.5% after reporting quarterly profit that topped estimates.
Baytex Energy, which rose 6.7%, was among the top gainers, after reporting quarterly results.
Eldorado Gold fell 11.2%, and Enerflex Ltd dropped 6% and were among the biggest decliners on the TSX, after the two companies posted disappointing quarterly results.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recouped 3.65 points to 604.23
All of the 12 Toronto subgroups gained ground, with materials and gold stronger by 1.2% each, while information technology gathered 0.8%
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Friday, rebounding from a two-day loss, as data showed U.S. job creation was stronger than expected in April.
The Dow Jones Industrials rocketed 202.4 points to 26,510.19
The S&P 500 advanced 25.61 points to 2,943.13,
The NASDAQ Composite index popped 100.71 points, or 1.3%, to 8,137.48.
Shares of Amazon got a boost from an investment by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Amazon’s stock rose for the first time in five days after Buffett told the media Thursday that one of his investment managers at Berkshire Hathaway has been buying Amazon. Shares of the e-commerce giant were up nearly 3% Friday.
Shares of Tesla jumped more than 4% after the electric car maker said Friday it increased the size of the stock and bond offering announced a day earlier and CEO Elon Musk intends to buy even more equity.
Despite Friday’s gains, Dow is still set to post weekly losses as the Fed Chairman’s comments triggered a two-day sell-off earlier in the week. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both hit all-time highs on Monday amid solid earnings reports.
The U.S. added a robust 263,000 new hires in April while the unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, the lowest since December 1969, according to a report Friday from the U.S. Labor Department. The non-farm payroll growth far outpaced Wall Street expectations of 190,000 and a 3.8% jobless rate, according to Dow Jones estimates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell sharply, raising yields to 2.53% from Thursday’s 2.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 57 cents to $62.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered nine dollars to $1,281.00 U.S. an ounce.
