TSX gains on boost from materials
- Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 42.4 points, or 0.2%, at 19,074.56.
- The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.6% as gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,786.20 an ounce. Gold prices were set for their third weekly gain on lower Treasury yields.
Canada's main stock index gained on Friday as material stocks rose tracking gold prices and a jump in factory sales in March helped boost recovery optimism.
At 9:45 a.m. ET (13:45 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 42.4 points, or 0.2%, at 19,074.56.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.6% as gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,786.20 an ounce. Gold prices were set for their third weekly gain on lower Treasury yields.
Canadian factory sales most likely rose 3.5% in March from February, Statistics Canada said in a flash estimate on Friday. The increase is mostly attributed to higher sales in transportation equipment and the petroleum and coal product industries.
The energy sector was unchanged as US crude prices were up 0.1% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.1%.
The financials sector gained 0.1%. The industrials sector remain unchanged.
On the TSX, 115 issues were higher, while 106 issues declined for a 1.08-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 10.97 million shares traded.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Turquoise Hill Resources, which jumped 2.3% and OrganiGram Holdings, which rose 2.2%.
Winpak Ltd fell 2.7%, the most on the TSX, while the second biggest decliner was Sunopta Inc, down 1.6%.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Tetra Bio-Pharma, Nevada Copper and Royal Bank of Canada.
The TSX posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows.
Across all Canadian issues, there were 18 new 52-week highs and six new lows, with total volume of 28.63 million shares.
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