TORONTO — Canada's largest stock market rose Friday, with energy stocks buoyed by rising oil prices, while U.S. indexes were generally flat amid indications from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest rate hikes were in the offing.
On Bay Street, Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index gained 71.85 points at 15,608.50. Most sectors within the commodity-heavy index were positive, with gold, materials and energy stocks leading the gainers.
"The TSX is having just a mildly positive day mostly on the back, I would say, of a little bit of an uptick in energy prices," said Roland Chalupka, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Canada.
The April crude contract was up 72 cents at US$53.33 per barrel.
Chalupka said a recent agreement by OPEC to limit oil production has had a stabilizing effect on Canada's energy sector.
"That's the one thing I'd say that's really got the TSX moving in a different direction than U.S. markets," he said.
For weeks, oil has been holding steady above US$50 a barrel after having bottomed out to about $26 in early last year.
In New York, major indexes had small gains following a speech Friday by Fed chair Janet Yellen, who said the central bank will likely lift rates, citing an improving job market and rising inflation.
On Thursday, the U.S. government reported that first-time applications for unemployment benefits — a proxy for the pace of layoffs — fell last week to their lowest level in nearly 44 years. Inflation, which had been lagging at chronically low levels, has been edging steadily up, reflecting in part a rebound in gasoline prices and higher wages.
At the close Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 2.74 points to 21,005.71, the S&P 500 was up 1.20 points to 2,383.12, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 9.53 points to 5,870.75.
"I don't know if there's a lot of excuses left for Yellen to not start to talk about a hiking cycle and doing at least two or three rate hikes over the next year," said Chalupka.
"She came out and said exactly that, and I think that's what the markets are largely anticipating. I think they would have reacted differently if she had said something either more hawkish or too dovish."
In currencies, the Canadian dollar, which has been sliding in value as of late, was trading at 74.60 cents US, down 0.10 of a cent from Thursday's close.
In other commodities, the April natural gas contract added two cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU, April gold shed $6.40 at US$1226.50 an ounce and May copper gained a cent to US$2.70 a pound.
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David Hodges, The Canadian Press
