TSX edges higher on mining boost, tracks fourth straight week of gains

Canada's main stock index edged higher on Friday, lifted by mining shares, and was set to deliver its fourth straight weekly gain on the back of a strong batch of corporate earnings.

The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.1% as gold futures rose 0.8% to $1,762.1 an ounce.

At 9:39 a.m. ET (13:39 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 10.3 points, or 0.05%, at 20,530.9.

Producer prices in Canada most likely rose by 0.1% in July from June, led mainly by higher prices for energy and petroleum products, and chemicals and chemical products, Statistics Canada said.

The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Pretium Resources Inc, which jumped 17.6% after the miner reported upbeat second-quarter results.

TSX pulls back from record high as gold, energy majors weigh

Its gains were followed by Lithium Americas Corp, which rose 5.3% after two brokerages lifted price targets on the lithium miner's stock.

The energy sector dropped 0.6% as US crude prices were down 0.1% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.2%.

The financials sector gained 0.1%. The industrials sector fell 0.1%.

On the TSX, 130 issues were higher, while 91 issues declined for a 1.43-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 16.85 million shares traded.

Mattress retailer Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc fell 2.1%, the most on the TSX, and the second biggest decliner was ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc, down 1.6%.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Enbridge Inc , Fortis Inc and Manulife Financial Corp .

The TSX posted 18 new 52-week highs and no new lows.

Across all Canadian issues there were 106 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, with total volume of 28.24 million shares.