Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, led by mining stocks as gold rallied, while investors weighed lingering strains in global bond markets and a diplomatic deadlock in the Middle East.
The TSX jumped 297.24 points to pause midday at 36,662.66. On the week so far, the index remained behind last week 186 points, or 0.5%.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.06 cents to 72.62 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Fairfax Financial, a frontrunner to acquire the government's IDBI Bank stake, is set to be allowed up to two years to consolidate its Indian bank holdings to smooth the acquisition.
Fairfax reached noon EDT Friday up $8.07 to $2.245.40.
The materials sector flourished, with Lithium Americas, up 28 cents, or 6.9%, to $4.37,while Ivanhoe Mines hiked 87 cents, or 7.6%, to $12.29, and Lundin Mining advanced $1.90, or 5.3%, to $38.01.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada says June retail trade increased 0.6% to $74.3 billion in June. Sales were up in seven of nine subsectors, led by increases at general merchandise retailers.
On the trade front, Canadian and U.S. negotiators will meet for a third day in Washington on Friday, in a bid to seal a trade deal ahead of new American tariffs set to kick in on Saturday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange acquired 12.42 points, or 1.3%, to 985.51. The index has popped 15.3 points, or 1.6%, on the week so far.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were still in the green, led by gold, up 2.9%, materials, progressing 2.5%, and consumer discretionary stocks, better by 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed most by utilities, down 1.4%, real-estate, off 0.7%, and consumer staples, stepping back 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 rose on Friday as investors tried to find their footing following a steep selloff driven by rising Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 467.77 points to 53,226.98, supported by gains in healthcare stocks such as Merck and Johnson & Johnson.
The financials sector offered a boost to the broader market, with crypto-related stocks seeing sizable gains as bitcoin headed for a weekly gain of more than 20%.
Robinhood shares jumped 12%, while Coinbase added 9%. Materials also outperformed, up 2% on the day.
The much-broader index picked up 52.63 points to 7,697.79.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 185.61 points to 26,252.78.
The NASDAQ is off by nearly 2%, and also poised to end a three-week win streak, while the Dow has fallen around 1% on the week and is on track for back-to-back weekly losses.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slumped, raising yields to 4.73% from Thursday’s 4.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded four cents to $86.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices spiked $95.90 to $4,666.90 U.S. an ounce.
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