By Sarah Pringle, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Canadian stocks regained their footing Friday with support from mining and tech equities, rallying after surprising U.S. jobs data lifted investor spirits.
U.S. economy adds 163,000 jobs
The U.S. unemployment rate ticks up to 8.3% in July, as nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 163,000. Photo: Bloomberg
The S&P/TSX composite index /zigman2/quotes/210598478/delayed CA:GSPTSE +0.80% jumped 155.79 points, or 1.35%, to close at 11,662.29.
Canada’s resource-heavy market “really is marching to the tune of the global markets,” said Drummond Brodeur, portfolio manager at Signature Global Advisors.
And amid the summer doldrums, “the low liquidity led to a very oversized reaction, if you will, to the ECB [decision] … It was already correcting before we got the payroll data,” said Brodeur.
Still, Friday’s gains weren’t enough to lift the index higher on the week, retreating 0.88% since Monday. On Wall Street the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.44% and Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +1.26% lifted 0.36% and 0.16%, respectively.
In Canada, a 2% rise in metals and mining stocks , 1.7% gain in information technology equities /zigman2/quotes/210598463/delayed XX:TORGC194 +2.36% and 1.5% increase among shares of industrial stocks /zigman2/quotes/210598464/delayed XX:TORGC193 +1.29% helped push the market higher as the week came to an end.
Commodity companies making the greatest headway included Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. /zigman2/quotes/207656050/delayed CA:IVN +1.16% tacking on 7.1%; Inmet Mining Corp. , adding 6.4%; and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. /zigman2/quotes/203742161/delayed CA:CNQ +0.66% up 4.5%.
Shares of energy companies rose in line with crude for oil September delivery , which rebounded 4.9% to $91.4 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Read more about oil.
Buoying the technology sector, shares of Open Text Corp. /zigman2/quotes/204542734/delayed CA:OTC +11.27% , an enterprise software company, rose 4.8%, while health science technology company Nordion Inc. added 3.8%.
Testing parity throughout the session, the Canadian dollar rose against the greenback /zigman2/quotes/210561978/realtime/sampled USDCAD +0.0814% , with one U.S. dollar buying $1.0013 vs. $1.0072 Thursday.
“The Canadian dollar is continuing to grind stronger. Now that we’re around parity again I do think the trend may just cool a little bit. It would take a lot more conviction among markets to push it much stronger,” said Michael Gregory, senior economist and head of Canadian rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets.
A lower U.S. dollar sent gold futures higher as they snapped a three-day losing streak, with gold for December delivery rising 1.2% to finish at $1,609.30 an ounce. Read more about gold. Canadian gold miners advanced, with IAMGOLD Corp. /zigman2/quotes/206182143/delayed CA:IMG -1.34% rallying 3.6% and Osisko Mining Corp. /zigman2/quotes/205809926/delayed CA:OSK +6.97% climbing 4%.
On the earnings front, shares of Richmond-based Sierra Wireless Inc. tumbled 6.4%, despite posting it had swung to a second-quarter profit of $3.58 million, from a loss of $6.77 million a year ago.
Shares of Silvercorp Metals Inc. /zigman2/quotes/210397281/delayed CA:SVM -3.20% retreated 5.4% after reporting a 72% lower second-quarter profit, from a year ago the same quarter.
Further, steel producer Russel Metals Inc. /zigman2/quotes/200879872/delayed CA:RUS +1.45% edged 2.2% lower after it said its second-quarter profit had fallen 27% to C$22.8 million, from C$31.1 million, a year ago.
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