Canada's main stock index rose on Friday as upbeat comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on a trade deal with China boosted sentiment and overshadowed weak employment data.
The TSX Composite Index sprang to life 113.97 points to open the week’s final session at 16,968.89
The Canadian dollar deducted 0.46 cents to 75.43 cents U.S.
Australia's Newcrest Mining it had raised its stake in Lundin Gold to 32% with an additional $79.6-million investment as it looks to increase its exposure in Ecuador.
Shares in Lundin Gold picked up 18 cents, or 2.3%, to $7.88.
RBC raised the rating on CI Financial Corp to sector perform from underperform. CI shares took on 92 cents, or 4.4%, to $21.98.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on Canadian Western Bank to $34.00 from $36.00. Western Bank shares settled 59 cents, or 1.8%, to $32.45.
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Detour Gold to buy from hold. Shares in Detour scaled back 20 cents to $24.25.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said Canada’s economy lost 71,000 jobs in November, boosting the unemployment rate by 0.4 percentage points to 5.9%. Employment had held steady during October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 2.6 points to 537.10
In Toronto, seven of the 12 subgroups had moved higher the closing bell, led by real-estate, headed north 0.8%, gold, up 0.6%, and communications, ahead 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 1.1%, financials, worse off by 0.8%, and energy, sinking 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks surged on Friday on the back of U.S. jobs growth that easily topped analyst expectations as Wall Street wrapped up a choppy week of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrials screamed higher 266.28 points, or nearly 1%, in the first hour of trading, to 27,944.07
The S&P 500 jumped 26.58 points to 3,144.11
The NASDAQ hiked 79.79 points to 8,650.50
Shares of 3M led the Dow’s strong gains, rising more than 2%. The financials sector was the best performer in the S&P 500, jumping 1.3%.
The S&P 500 came into the session down 0.7% for the week, but Friday’s strong gains helped the index recover those losses. The Dow and NASDAQ each entered Friday trading down more than 1% week to date. The Dow was down 0.5% and the NASDAQ off 0.3%, after the session began.
The U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 266,000 jobs in November. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 187,000. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, matching its lowest level since 1969.
Friday’s report comes as investors grappled with mixed signals on the U.S.-China trade front this week. China started off the week saying it wants tariffs to be canceled as part of a “phase-one” trade deal. President Donald Trump later said he could hold off on any deal until after the 2020 U.S. election.
Other data slated for release Friday includes consumer sentiment for December, wholesale trade figures for October and the latest reading of consumer credit will all follow slightly later in the session.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.85% from Thursday’s 1.80%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell four cents at $58.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices descended $17.60 to $1,465.50 U.S. an ounce.
