Canadian stocks notch highest close in over a year

Canada's main stock market in Toronto registered its fourth straight weekly gains on Friday and notched its highest close in more than a year as rising telecom and financials stocks offset losses for health care giants and materials stocks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 34.83 point, or 0.24 percent, to close at 14,600.66 points. That was its highest close since July 17, 2015. Six of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.

Oil prices kept falling Friday after data showed that the number of rigs operating in the United States continued to rise.

U.S. Texas light sweet crude for August delivery fell 0.56 U.S. dollar to settle at 44.19 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude for September delivery lost 0.51 dollar to close at 45.69 dollars a barrel.

But TSX energy rose 0.60 percent as Canadian Natural Resources Limited increased 0.95 percent to 41.57 Canadian dollars (31.62 U.S. dollars) and Suncor Energy Inc. went up 0.06 percent to 36.0 Canadian dollars.

Husky Energy Inc. advanced 3.05 percent to 15.89 Canadian dollars after the company reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as a focus on fewer, more efficient resource plays helped reduce production costs.

That followed the beginning of oil and gas earnings season on Thursday with Encana and Precision Drilling planning to boost activity.

Telecoms climbed 1.31 percent, with Rogers Communications Inc. extending post-earnings gains with a 2.05 percent advance to 56.81 Canadian dollars.

Its rivals, which have not yet reported second-quarter numbers, also gained, with BCE Inc. up 0.64 percent to 63.15 Canadian dollars and TELUS Corporation adding 1.59 percent to 43.96 Canadian dollars.

Celestica Inc., a contract manufacturer, jumped 8.51 percent to 14.28 Canadian dollars after reporting earnings after the bell on Thursday.

Health care sector lost 2.48 percent as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. declined 6.24 percent to 30.03 Canadian dollars after U.S. regulators raised concerns about a new eye drop the company manufactures.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.74 percent with Eldorado Gold Corporation down 2.74 percent to 5.68 Canadian dollars and Teck Resources Limited off 0.61 percent to 17.85 Canadian dollars.

On the economic slate, Canada's year-on-year inflation rate held steady at 1.5 percent in June, the same level as May, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Meanwhile, Canadian retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in May from April to hit a record 44.3 billion Canadian dollars (33.7 billion U.S. dollars), largely because of increases for food, drink and gasoline.

The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7607 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7642 U.S. dollar. Endit