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Toronto stocks closed slightly higher on Friday with a jump among resource issues offsetting more bad news from Nortel Networks Corp.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 11.47 points, or 0.14 percent, at 8,188.08, its lowest close since mid December. On the week Canada's main equity index lost 1.04 percent.
Volume was 196 million shares worth C$2.65 billion.
"Overall, given the past week, this is a pretty good showing. People are afraid of essentially a double whammy of rising interest rates and higher oil prices," said Kate Warne, a strategist with Edward Jones.
"We'll continue to bounce around until there's more news that resolves the question of how much the US will raise rates."
Six of the TSX index's 10 main groups gained ground, led by a 2.39 percent jump in the gold-mining index, a subsector of the materials group. Every gold miner rose, with major producers Barrick Gold Corp up 37 Canadian cents, or 1.4 percent, at C$26.19 and Placer Dome Inc up 30 Canadian cents, or 1.5 percent, at C$19.70.
Energy issues rose 1.27 percent, underpinned by oil prices which hovered above the $40 mark. Shares of EnCana Corp rose C$1.64, or 3 percent, to C$56.90 and Petro-Canada was up 99 Canadian cents, or 1.65 percent, at C$60.93.
But Nortel tempered further gains, leading technology stocks down 2.85 percent after a US grand jury subpoenaed it for records as part of a criminal investigation. Shares of the already battered telecoms equipment giant fell 32 Canadian cents, or 6 percent, to C$4.99.
Celestica Inc lost C$1.18, or 4.7 percent, to C$24 and Sierra Wireless fell C$1.19, or 3.4 percent, to C$33.55.
"Aside from Nortel, the general sentiment is that tech stocks haven't showed enough to really justify optimistic projections," said Shooshan Danagoulian, Canadian economist with IDEAglobal.
"Techs' financial reports have been more or less meeting expectations. At this point, with the downward pressure from the Fed, in order to turn the techs around I would expect to see very strong reports."
Telus Corp helped lift the telecoms group 0.22 percent on news it had launched a hostile C$1.1 billion bid for Microcell Telecommunications Inc.
Telus stock retreated 3 Canadian cents to C$23.50, but Microcell soared C$10.45, or 49 percent, to C$31.70 on a hefty volume of 7.5 million shares. Telus has offered C$29 a share for Microcell, best known for its Fido cellphone brand.
BCE Inc and Rogers Wireless Communications Inc also benefited from the news, with BCE ahead 60 Canadian cents, or 2 percent, at C$27.39 and Rogers up C$1.60, or 5 percent, at C$33.31.
The blue-chip S&P/TSX index finished down 0.04 points at 453.81.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.13 points to 10,012.87, while the Nasdaq composite index shed 21.78 points, or 1.13 percent, to 1,904.25.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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