Toronto's main stock index closed higher on Friday after touching its highest level in nearly a year, driven up by EnCana Corp on news of its plan to split the company. EnCana shares were given a boost as the company filled in details of its revived plan to split itself into separate oil sands and natural gas businesses.
The news helped hand the energy group a 2.59 percent gain, best among all the TSX's sectors, as it managed to shrug off a slide of nearly 4 percent in US crude prices. Shares of EnCana ended up 7.8 percent at C$63.52, followed by Canadian Natural Resources, which exited the session with a gain of 3.5 percent to C$70.21.
"Lately, the market has been going up so it looks like investors are going to continue with that trend to either buy on dips or continue to move the market up, but it doesn't look like they are in any mood to sell," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier. "But EnCana had a big play on the move today."
The S&P/TSX composite index rose 98.23 points, or 0.88 percent, to 11,253.23, even though six of its 10 main groups ended lower. Earlier in the session the index rose as high as 11,283.31, its best level since October 3.