The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark index ended a quiet Friday flat after a week in which rising commodity prices powered it to several records. The S&P/TSX composite index closed 2.37 points above Thursday's record close of 12,754.75. It ended the week 1 percent higher.
Half of the TSX index's 10 main groups were up, including financial services, which edged into the black after a five-session fall. Oil and gas stocks rose with US crude futures, which were up 30 cents to $63.43 a barrel after falling nearly a dollar earlier in the session.
EnCana was the biggest gainer by weight, up C$1.14, or 1.9 percent, at C$60.50. Douglas Davis, president at Davis-Rea in Toronto, said "there will be tax-loss selling from here until the end of the year, but there will also be a little bit of up action for energy stocks, so they should offset each other." Over the past 20 years, the benchmark index has climbed an average of 2.9 percent in December.
Among Canada's big six banks, which are in the midst of reporting quarterly earnings, Royal Bank of Canada recovered Thursday's losses, advancing 32 Canadian cents, or 0.6 percent, to C$53.60.
"Why would anybody ever sell a Canadian bank, quite frankly,." said Gavin Graham, chief investment officer at Guardian Group of Funds, adding that in the last couple of quarters, Royal probably picked up some market share at the expense of Bank of Montreal. BMO climbed 51 Canadian cents, or 0.8 percent, to C$68.90. Elsewhere, bullion prices hit a six-month peak, but Canadian gold producers retreated 0.9 percent after spiking strongly on Thursday. Goldcorp skidded 55 Canadian cents, or 1.5 percent, to C$35.16.
The TSX materials sector, of which gold producers are a part, was flat on Friday after leaping 3.7 percent this week. In economic news, an abundance of new part-time positions and an increase in job seekers pushed up the unemployment rate to 6.3 percent, Statistics Canada said.
Market volume was 305 million shares worth C$4.6 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers 893 to 626. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 0.18 points, or 0.1 percent, higher at 207.55. Noting that Fridays in December are typically slow, Graham suggested the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index in the United States attracted much Canadian attention. US stocks fell after the index showed its weakest reading in more than three years, falling below 50 in November.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.80 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 12,194.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 18.56 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 2,413.21.
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