Tracking a rise in commodity prices, Canada’s main stock index moved higher on Friday lifted by upbeat megacap earnings on Wall Street. The mining sector was the biggest gainer on the TSX while declines in the utilities and telecom sectors offered the most drag.
U.S. markets finally scored a winning week and moved higher thanks to growth in big tech firms such as Microsoft (NDAQ:MSFT) and Google’s parent, Alphabet (NDAQ:GOOG) reported stronger than expected earnings. March’s core personal consumption expenditures reading also gave markets a boost. The gauge (excluding food and energy) rose 2.8 per cent from a year ago and came in ahead of the 2.7 per cent expected by Dow Jones. Personal spending was up 0.8 per cent and ahead of a 0.7 per cent estimate.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.18 cents compared with 73.23 cents U.S. on Thursday.
U.S. crude futures traded $0.09 higher at $83.66 a barrel, and the Brent contract added $0.30 to $89.31 a barrel.
The price of gold was up US$9.33 to US$2,339.97.
In world markets, the Nikkei was up 306.28 points to 37,934.76, the Hang Seng was up 366.61 points to 17,651.15, the FTSE was up 64.22 points to 8,143.08, and the DAX was up 239.39 points to 18,156.67.
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