At midday: TSX gains led by financial, energy stocks

Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday, boosted by the heavy-weight financial sector and energy companies, which were supported by higher oil prices.

At 11:29 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 87.80 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 15,709.27.

Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. rose 1.5 per cent and Toronto-Dominion Bank was up 0.9 per cent, helping the financial group gain 0.5 per cent.

Oil prices strengthened as global supplies remained tight and the market awaited news from Washington on possible new U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Also helping the energy sector was Pembina Pipeline Corp., up 4.8 per cent, after the company on Thursday reported higher quarterly revenue, expansion of its Peace Pipeline system and an increase to its monthly dividend.

Eight of Canada’s 10 main index sectors were higher.

Among stocks, Enbridge Inc on Thursday agreed to pay $1.86-million in penalties for an alleged failure in inspecting certain lines within its Lakehead pipeline system. Shares of the pipeline operator gained 1.3 per cent.

TransCanada Corp’s shares gained 0.2 per cent after pressure restrictions on the pipeline operator’s Keystone oil pipeline were lifted on Tuesday in a letter issued by U.S. pipeline safety regulators, a spokesman for the agency told Reuters on Thursday.

Apple and other technology shares led a rally on Wall Street on Friday morning, helping it shrug off a choppy start following the April jobs report.

Apple jumped 3.8 per cent to a record high of $183.65 after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway raised its stake in the iPhone maker.

The technology sector was up 1.47 per cent, giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500.

The markets were off to a choppy start after data showed the U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, but missed expectations, while the unemployment rate dropped to near a 17-1/2-year low of 3.9 per cent.

However, the Labor Department’s closely watched report showed wage growth of only 0.1 percent, also coming in below estimates, easing concerns that inflation pressures were increasing.

“It’s kind of a muted reaction in general to that piece of economic data,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in Boston.

“The amount of the headline miss that we saw was made up in last month’s revision — so if we missed by 30,000 we revised last month up by 30,000. And earnings went up just a bit, so there’s no pressure of wage prices from the data.”

After choppy futures trading following the payroll numbers, the market opened lower, before reversing course. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 bounced off their 200-day moving averages, a technical level that indicates long-term momentum.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 245.29 points, or 1.03 per cent, at 24,175.44, the S&P 500 was up 23.39 points, or 0.89 per cent, at 2,653.12 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 91.39 points, or 1.29 per cent, at 7,179.54.

Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with only the energy index posting a loss of 0.08 per cent.

After a two-day meeting in Beijing, China and the United States reached a consensus on some aspects of their trade row, though some “relatively big” disagreements on other issues remained, China said.

Among stocks, Fluor Corp sank 21.2 per cent, the most on the S&P, after the engineering and construction company posted a surprise quarterly loss due to issues with a gas-fired power project.

Pandora Media jumped 24.2 per cent after the music streaming service provider reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

Reuters