Equities in Toronto opened higher on Friday, driven by gains in energy shares on the back of higher crude prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index cleared breakeven 10.96 points to open Friday at 16,318.69
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.02 cents to 76.36 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Almaden Minerals to sector perform from outperform. Almaden shares gained two cents, or 2.6%, to 78 cents.
RBC raised rating on Atco Ltd. to sector perform from underperform. Atco shares picked up 54 cents, or 1.2%, to $44.34.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Detour Gold to sector perform from outperform. Detour shares dropped 48 cents, or 2.9%, to $16.12.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product was up 0.3% in April, following a 0.5% increase in March.
Goods-producing industries rose 0.4%, while services producing industries increased 0.2%. The 20 industrial sectors were nearly evenly split between gains and losses.
In May, the agency said its Industrial Product Price Index edged up 0.1% in May.
Higher prices for energy and petroleum products and for motorized and recreational vehicles were largely offset by lower prices for primary non-ferrous metal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.56 points to 583.61
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided as consumer discretionary and utility stocks each gained 0.4%, while materials inched up 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, hesitating 0.9%, while consumer staples faded 0.8%, and health-care ailed 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened higher on Friday as bank shares got a boost after the release of the Federal Reserve’s stress test results while investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 27.89 points at 26,554.47, as J.P. Morgan Chase shares outperformed.
The S&P 500 increased 5.74 points to 2,930.66, led by the financials sector.
The NASDAQ Composite acquired 5.85 points to 7,973.60
Friday’s session marks the end of a stellar month for stocks. The major indexes were all up more than 6% through Thursday’s close. The Dow was on pace for its biggest June gain since 1938. The S&P 500 was set to post its best June performance since 1955.
J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all rose more than 1.5%. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America gained more than 2% each.
Their gains come after they passed the Fed’s annual stress test and got approval to boost dividends and share repurchase programs. Goldman hiked its quarterly dividend by nearly 50%while J.P. Morgan raised its dividend by 10 cents.
Procter & Gamble also gave stocks a jolt, rising 1.7% after an analyst at Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The analyst said Procter "has been a clear benefactor of the recent acceleration in end-market growth, and we expect the market to continue to grow in the 3%-plus range in the future."
But Wall Street’s gains were kept in check as traders awaited the Trump-Xi trade meeting scheduled for Saturday.
The world’s two largest economies have maintained firm stances going into the weekend, with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce calling on Washington to cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, while Trump reiterated a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports if talks fail.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.01%.
Oil prices were down 21 cents to $59.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $2.10 to $1,414.10 U.S. an ounce.
