Energy prices push Canadian stocks higher despite job losses
Xinhua, March 12, 2016 Adjust font size:
Canada's main stock market in Toronto advanced Friday, powered by rising energy prices despite an unexpected jobless rate in February.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 142.86 points, or 1.07 percent, to close at 13,522.00 points. Seven of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors ended higher.
Oil prices rose Friday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) believes oil prices might have bottomed out.
Global oil supplies dropped 180,000 barrels per day in February to 96.5 million barrels per day on lower OPEC and non-OPEC output, the newly released IEA Oil Market Report for March said Friday.
The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery moved up 66 cents to settle at 38.5 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery increased 34 cents to close at 40.39 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The TSX energy sector rose 2.32 percent, as Niko Resources Ltd. jumped 93.10 percent to 0.28 Canadian dollars (0.20 U.S. dollars) per share, Baytex Energy Corp. advanced 5.04 percent to 5.00 Canadian dollars a share, while MEG Energy Corp. shares soared 12.74 percent to 6.37 Canadian dollars.
The energy gain came despite an 8.6 percent fall to 3.20 Canadian dollars for Canadian Energy Services & Technology, which reported a loss on lower revenue and forecast that 2016 would be even more challenging.
Other influential gainers included Canadian National Railway, which rose 1.50 percent to 79.88 Canadian dollars, and insurer Manulife Financial, which added 3.51 percent to 18.88 Canadian dollars.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, slipped as gold miners pulled back from recent solid gains.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that employment numbers slipped unexpectedly in February during which some 2,300 jobs were lost, as gains in part-time work were offset by losses in full-time.
Canada's dollar and benchmark stock index have quietly rebounded since bottoming out in January, but Friday's jobs number may add to concerns that the rebound isn't based on fundamentals.
The Canadian dollar was traded higher at 0.7558 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7493 U.S. dollar. Endi