Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday, as higher crude prices lifted energy shares, while robust earnings from companies including Air Canada beat back concerns over a fallout from the U.S. regional bank turmoil.
At 10:02 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 174.64 points, or 0.86%, at 20,412.83.
The energy sector jumped 3.3% as crude prices firmed against the dollar.
South of the border, U.S. stock indexes gained as Apple Inc’s upbeat results underscored resilience in corporate earnings and stronger-than-expected jobs data allayed fears of a recession.
“Investor sentiment is improving… some of the waves of fear we had relative to U.S. banking and any issues around the Fed meeting have kind of washed through now and we may soon be seeing bargain hunters stepping in,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
Shares of Air Canada surged 11.2%, to the top of the index, as the airline carrier raised its full-year forecast for core profit.
Technology stocks rose 2.2%, lifted by an 11.6% jump in Open Text Corp after its quarterly results beat.
The materials sector was a laggard, down 1.5%, tracking a fall in gold prices.
Meanwhile, data showed Canada added a net 41,400 jobs in April, far exceeding expectations, while the jobless rate stayed at 5.0% for a fifth consecutive month.
Despite the session’s gains, the commodity-heavy TSX is on course to post its biggest weekly drop in over a month, unable to elude the sell-off in energy stocks due to weakness in crude.
Among other major movers, Enbridge Inc edged 0.9% higher as sustained fuel demand helped the pipeline operator report a rise in first-quarter profit.
Magna International Inc rose 4.5% after the auto parts maker raised its full-year sales forecast.
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