Canadian stocks rally as financials lead broad gains

Canada's main stock market in Toronto rallied Friday as financials led broad-based gains and energy shares advanced as rainfall helped beat back a wildfire near the country's major oil sands hub.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 102.26 point, or 0.74 percent, to close at 13,919.58 points. All of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.

The TSX index was on track to rise 1.3 percent for the week, while it has rebounded more than 20 percent from an almost three-and-a-half-year low in January.

Canadian markets will be shuttered Monday for Victoria Day national holiday.

The most influential movers on the index included Bank of Nova Scotia, which rose 0.59 percent to 63.10 Canadian dollars (48.08 U.S. dollars), and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which advanced 0.41 percent to 56.50 Canadian dollars.

Units in newly listed real estate investment trust Manulife U.S. REIT opened in Singapore slightly below their offer price. The sponsor of the REIT is a part of life insurer Manulife Financial. In Toronto, Manulife's shares rose 2.12 percent to 18.79 Canadian dollars.

Firefighters battling a massive blaze in Canada's energy heartland could see a second day of rainfall and winds, expected to beat flames back from key oil sands facilities.

Imperial Oil said it had restarted limited operations at its Kearl site, which had been unaffected by the fires. Its shares rose 0.79 percent to 41.02 Canadian dollars.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that inflation hiked in April, as the consumer price index increased 1.7 percent, after a jump of 1.3 percent in March, as higher prices for food and shelter contributed to a higher cost of living.

The agency said Friday that seven of the eight sectors of the economy the data agency monitors saw rising prices. The lone exception was clothing and footwear, which got cheaper during the month.

Fresh vegetable prices were up 11.7 percent year-over-year in April and food from restaurants was up 2.7 percent.

In the closely watched energy sector, prices in April were down 3.2 percent compared with a year ago, but the drop was much smaller than the 7.8 percent decline in March.

The agency also reported that retail sales slumped 1 percent in March to 43.8 billion Canadian dollars, after gaining in January and February. Sales were down in six of 11 sub-sectors, representing 74 percent of total retail trade.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7620 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7631 U.S. dollar. Endit