Canada's main stock index barely extended a 19-month high on Friday, jumping 1.7 percent over the week, as heavyweight energy and bank stocks gained with rising oil prices and bond yields while mining losses eclipsed broad gains. The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 2.1 percent. Diversified miner Teck Resources Ltd fell 6.9 percent to C$29.37.
"I think the materials have run way too far too fast and have been completely overplayed," said Barry Schwartz, portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services. "I would be hesitant to put any money in that sector at the moment." Materials stocks powered higher from mid-January to an August peak but have since trimmed some gains. Teck has only turned lower since late November.
Gold fell to a 10 month low as the US dollar and global equities rose, heading for a fifth straight weekly decline on expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week. Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest producer, fell 3 percent to C$20.38. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd jumped 16.6 percent to C$2.74. Bernstein started coverage of the company with an outperform rating and a C$10 price target.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 17.00 points, or 0.11 percent, at 15,312.20, after touching its highest since May 2015 at 15,347.74. Seven of its 10 main groups gained. The financials group rose 0.7 percent as 10-year bond yields rose solidly for a second straight day. Higher bond yields reduce the value of insurance companies' liabilities and increase net interest margins of banks. The country's largest lender, Royal Bank of Canada, gained 1 percent to C$90.30 and Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.9 percent to C$65.75.
Fairfax Financial Holdings shares slipped 0.5 percent to C$605.77. A subsidiary of Fairfax, one of the shareholders who helped keep Bank of Ireland out of state hands in 2011, is selling half its remaining stake in the Irish lender. The energy group climbed 0.6 percent, as crude gained ahead of a weekend meeting of producers that could result in a agreement for further production cuts.
Cenovus Energy Inc added 0.9 percent to C$20.67 a day after it said it planned to increase its 2017 capital budget and resume work on an oil sands project expansion. Shares in BRP Inc, the maker of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Sea-Doo watercraft, jumped 9.6 percent to C$28.10, after its quarterly profit beat expectations.
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