Toronto stocks ended a difficult week on a positive note on Friday as investors welcomed computer maker Dell Inc's upbeat outlook, while gold and energy stocks buoyed the market.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 40.29 points, or 0.50 percent, at 8,172.63 on volume of 156.5 million shares worth C$1.99 billion. The market was flat on the week.
"It's a little encouraging to see the market's held up despite the fact that oil produced a new record high," said Elvis Picardo, chief market strategist at Global Securities.
"It's been a decent end to a pretty dismal week."
Dell, the world's biggest PC producer, offered a better-than-expected third-quarter outlook a day earlier, easing worries after gloomy comments from Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems shook the market's confidence earlier in the week.
The market recouped modest losses early in the day and moved higher on bargain-hunting, while high crude oil prices gave support to Toronto's heavyweight energy sector.
"The Toronto market was drifting down all week so it got to levels where it looked pretty attractive to bargain hunters," said Sam Lee, market economist, BMO Nesbitt Burns.
Oil prices set new highs on Friday, underpinned by fresh evidence of strong Chinese demand and worries about sabotage in Iraq. An explosion at a US refinery pushed US light crude to a record $46.30 a barrel. Adding to the uncertainty were fears of unrest in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 exporter, ahead of a weekend referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule.
"The energy sector accounts for over 18 percent of the index, unlike the S&P, so when you have the surge in oil prices, it hurts other sectors but because of the heavy weight of the energy sector, it mitigates the fall," Lee said.
Meanwhile, strong domestic trade data, which sent the Canadian dollar sharply higher, also supported the Toronto market. Canada's trade surplus surged to a record C$8.63 billion ($6.59 billion) in June propelled by global demand for commodities, well above analysts' expectations.
Five of the TSX's 10 subgroups ended up, led by a 1.38 percent rise in the energy sector. Financials rose 0.51 percent and the technology group gained 0.15 percent.
Among energy issues, Canadian Natural Resources rose C$1.45, or 3.51 percent, to C$42.80, Precision Drilling gained C$1.29, or 2.03 percent, to C$64.69 and Penn West Petroleum was up C$1.17, or 1.84 percent, at C$64.67.
The materials sector rose 0.51 percent, supported by its component gold-mining stocks, which jumped 1.98 percent on stronger bullion prices. Market momentum was positive with 699 advancers and 511 decliners.
The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 index rose 2.68 points, or 0.59 percent, to 454.44.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 10.76 points, or 0.11 percent, at 9,825.35 and the Nasdaq composite index ended up 4.73 points at 1,757.22.
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