Toronto's resource-heavy stock index pushed higher after early volatility on Friday morning as investors bought beaten-down stocks and the market regrouped after an initial selloff in reaction to the huge earthquake in Japan. After four straight days of losses, the index bounced back as oil, gold and base-metal prices recouped some losses and bargain-hunters jumped into hard-hit commodity producers.
The energy sector was up 0.4 percent, while gold and base metal miners also reversed earlier declines, sending the index's heavyweight materials group up 1.4 percent. "There's obviously going to be some sort of rebuilding effort (in Japan). At the margin, it's going to be more demand for basic materials," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier, noting that forest-products producers were all up sharply following the Japan quake.
International Forest Products surged nearly 12 percent to C$5.81, West Fraser jumped 4.5 percent to C$49.80 and Canfor Corp gained 3.5 percent to C$12.62. At 12:33 pm (1733 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 58.47 points, or 0.43 percent, at 13,697.05. Five of the index's 10 main sectors were firmer. Financials were nearly flat, paring losses after softer than expected Canadian jobs data for February.
Among the lead gainers, Teck Resources rallied 2.6 percent to C$50.99, and Barrick Gold Corp advanced 1.2 percent to C$49.74 as gold and copper prices turned positive. "Bargain-hunters are coming in ... part of it has to do with that we've been down pretty sharply yesterday and the past few days. (They're) looking for some sort of rebound," Nakamoto said.