Roundup: Canadian stocks tick up on U.S. growth data

Canada's main stock market in Toronto edged higher Friday as data showed the U.S. economy slowed in the last quarter of 2015 but not as sharply as early estimates had suggested.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 44.19 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 12,797.79 points. Five of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.

Revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday showed an annualized growth rate of 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

That's an improvement from the initial estimate of 0.7 percent growth. The higher revision surprised analysts who'd expected the latest GDP report would show the economy slowing even more, to 0.4 percent. Still, one percent growth is just half the annual growth rate posted in the third quarter.

"The weaker drag from inventories in the fourth quarter means that any rebound in the first quarter could be slightly more modest than we previously expected," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

Driven by disruptions to crude supplies and Wall Street's gains from U.S. economic data, markets in Toronto also moved higher mainly led by energy and mining sectors as U.S. crude oil prices rallied nearly 4 percent in early trading before sliding on profit-taking.

As investors cashed out weekly profits with U.S. crude set for its biggest weekly gain in seven years, prices turned negative soon after the release of weekly U.S. oil rig data by industry firm Baker Hughes that showed a 10th weekly drop in the rig count, which was positive to oil but traders and investors chose to lock in profits.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery moved down 0.29 U.S. dollar to settle at 32.78 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery dropped 0.19 U.S. dollar to close at 35.10 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

TSX energy and mining groups went up 0.92 percent and 3.18 percent respectively. Twin Butte Energy Ltd. ticked up 11.11 percent, while MEG Energy Corp. moved higher 13.46 percent.

Husky Energy Inc. gained 4.46 percent to 14.05 Canadian dollars (10.40 U.S. dollars) per share after the Calgary-based company posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and said it's preparing for 30 U.S. dollar oil throughout 2016.

Husky Energy is one of Canada's largest integrated energy companies and operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific Region, with Upstream and Downstream business segments. Husky Energy is controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing who owns a majority share of approximately 70 percent.

Automotive supplier Magna International Inc. saw its shares zoom 7.30 percent to 51.62 Canadian dollars after the Ontario-based car parts giant reported a rise in quarterly sales, excluding the impact of a strong U.S. dollar, helped by healthy demand in Europe and North America.

Bell Canada was down 0.38 percent a share after the telecom giant is reportedly directing sales staff not to promote its new basic 24.95 dollar "Starter" TV package, which is ordered by regulatory policy.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar or the Loonie is continuing to strengthen to a two-and-a-half-month high against its U.S. counterpart on the oil price recovery following reports that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela and Russia will meet in March to discuss capping crude oil production.

"With the G20 kicking off today in China, you can bet investors will be awaiting for news to trickle out before acting," said Michael J Smith, a Toronto currency expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services. "This will surely create some additional volatility within the markets and in the government policy world."

The Canadian currency has extended recovery from 12-year lows in January, helped by stabilization in crude oil prices and the shifting of the fiscal stimulus burden from the Bank of Canada to the Canadian government.

On Monday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government will push ahead with plans to invest in infrastructure projects. Adding private-sector spending to projects could spur even greater spending and limit the need for a Bank of Canada rate cut.

The Canadian dollar was traded higher at 0.7400 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7385 U.S. dollar. Enditem