Toronto stocks ended higher on Friday bolstered by strong employment reports on both sides of the border that boosted optimism about the economy while strong oil prices underpinned the energy sector. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 46.47 points, or 0.49 percent, at 9,522.74. The index peaked at 9,553.69 in the session. Volume was 205.3 million shares worth C$4.03 billion. On the week, the index gained 1.64 percent. "We've had strong oil, solid strength in the financials and maybe a little bit of confidence coming back," said Julie Brough, senior advisor at Morgan Meighen & Associates.
"The market has been trading up and down around its resistance points. If this market breaks 9,600, (or) 9,700 that puts it in a breakout position where it has the potential to really start to show some legs again."
Figures released on Friday showed the Canadian economy generated 29,300 jobs in April, twice what was expected.
The unemployment rate was 6.8 percent last month, down from 6.9 percent in March, and the lowest since December 2000.
But the manufacturing sector lost jobs, hit by the higher Canadian dollar and cheap imports.
"Over the long term, we need to maintain a healthy manufacturing sector or else we end up strictly back being a commodity-based country," Brough said. "And when the commodity cycle ends, which it inevitably does, we've got nothing to fall back on."
US nonfarm payrolls data also surprised with employers creating 274,000 new jobs in April, far outstripping analysts' expectations for 170,000 new jobs. Concerns over more aggressive interest-rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve limited gains on US equity markets.
Meanwhile, oil prices pushed above $52 before retreating to settle at $50.96, up 13 cents, as speculative buying offset rising US stockpiles.
Eight of the TSX's 10 subgroups closed higher, led by energy issues, which rose 1.04 percent. The materials group gained 0.53 percent, buoyed by strength in base metal stocks, which climbed 1.2 percent.
In the energy group, Canadian Natural Resources rose C$2.57, or 3.81 percent, to C$70.07, while Husky Energy rose 79 Canadian cents, or 3.3 percent, to C$27.56.
The techs, financial, telecoms and health-care groups were all part of the upward tilt.
Health care was up 0.74 percent, led by Biovail Corp, which won US regulatory approval for its painkiller drug. Shares in Canada's biggest publicly traded drugmaker closed up C$1.22, or 6.98 percent, at C$18.69.
Industrials fell 0.13 percent, while utilities were off 0.28 percent.
Market momentum was positive with 764 advancers and 589 decliners. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index rose 3.44 points, or 0.65 percent, to 531.96.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 5.02 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 10,345.40. The Nasdaq composite index was up 5.55 points, or 0.28 percent, to finish at 1,967.35.
Comments
Comments are closed.