Roundup: Canadian stocks rise on record exports, U.S. jobs

Canada's main stock market in Toronto achieved its seventh straight day of gains Friday amid optimism over strong export figures and U.S. jobs data.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 88.85 points, or 0.68 percent, to close at 13,212.50 points. Seven of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors moved higher.

That's the highest level of the year for the TSX, after selling off heavily for several weeks starting in late December.

Canadian exports hit a record high in January as demand from the resurgent U.S. economy and the weakened Canadian currency bolstered shipments south of the border. Overall, Canada's trade deficit edged up to 655 million Canadian dollars (492 million U.S. dollars) in January from 631 million Canadian dollars in December as imports grew slightly more than exports, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The volume of exports expanded 8.8 percent in the past year, and in dollar terms, Canada exported 46 billion Canadian dollars (34.5 billion U.S. dollars) of merchandise, a 7.3 percent increase since last year, an indication that an export-driven recovery is already underway for the Canadian economy.

Nick Exarhos of CIBC welcomed the export figures as evidence the low loonie is finally helping to stimulate growth. "What we are seeing is the strongest export categories are tied to final goods categories and things that would be most sensitive to a depreciation in the Canadian dollar - motor parts and consumer goods," said Exarhos.

Exports to the United States, which accounted for 76.0 percent of Canada's global total in January, increased by 2.6 percent while imports grew by 1.1 percent. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the United States grew to 3.70 billion Canadian dollars from 3.13 billion in December.

Another significant development was the U.S. jobs report, which showed 242,000 new American jobs were created last month, well ahead of expectations, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent. More employed consumers in the U.S. are thought to be more likely to buy Canadian goods and services, helping Canada's economy to grow.

In a note to investors Friday, TD Economics said it had revised its outlook for Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2016 to 2 percent on the strength of stronger exports, especially to the United States.

Higher oil prices contributed to the optimism. West Texas Intermediate crude, the main North American contract, rose 1.35 to 35.92 U.S. dollars a barrel. That's an eight-week high for crude.

The prospects for more stable oil prices are improving, with news that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet with other major producers on Mar. 20 in hopes of reaching agreement on an output freeze.

TSX energy and mining sectors continued to jump by 2.98 percent and 5.17 percent respectively. Encana Corporation was up 10.77 percent to 7.3 Canadian dollars per share, Precision Drilling Corporation was up 12.93 percent to 6.20 Canadian dollars a share, while UK-based mineral exploration and development company Lydian International Limited moved 9.62 percent higher to 0.285 Canadian dollar a share.

In a rare movement in the healthcare sector, GeneNews Limited skyrocketed 0.065, or 216.67 percent, to 0.095 Canadian dollar a share. Headquartered in Markham, Ontario, GeneNews is a molecular diagnostics company engaged in developing and commercializing proprietary molecular diagnostic tests for early detection of diseases and personalized health management including cancer related indications.

The most influential movers on the index included B2Gold Corp., which gained 7.64 percent to 1.69 Canadian dollars a share, and Kinross Gold Corporation, down 3.40 percent to 3.98 Canadian dollars a share.

Unlike other countries, Ottawa has been selling off its reserve of gold bullion and coins. The government of Canada has wound down its gold reserves to basically nothing after a multi-year strategy of selling them off in favor of hoarding other countries' currencies instead.

According to the Department of Finance's official international reserves data released Thursday, Canada's gold reserves were down effectively to zero as of the end of February. That's the value that Ottawa assigns its gold holdings from an accounting perspective.

Meanwhile, Western University in London, Ontario reported that its seasonally-adjusted Ivey Purchasing Manager's Index for February stood at 53.4, indicating that purchases were less than the previous month, compared with 66 in January, and 49.7 in February 2015.

The Canadian dollar headed above 75 U.S. cents for the first time since late November 2015. By closing, the loonie was traded higher at 0.7505 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7465 U.S. dollar. Enditem