TSX Ends Nearly 1.5% Up

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market shrugged off a mid-morning setback and ended on a buoyant note on Friday, riding on rising optimism about a rapid economic recovery after data showed a bigger than expected jump in U.S. jobs growth.

Higher crude oil prices propped up energy stocks, contributing significantly to market's strong close. Several stocks from telecom, industrials, materials and financial sectors too posted handsome gains. Consumer discretionary and consumer staples shares rose as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended stronger by 255.24 points or 1.41% at 18,380.96, after scaling a low of 17,998.32 and a high of 18,406.45 intraday. The index gained about 1.8% in the week.

The Capped Energy Index climbed 3.4%. Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) surged up 8.3%, Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) and Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) gained 6.5% and 6.3%, respectively, while Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Arc Resources (ARX.TO) gained 4 to 5.6%.

Telecom stocks Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO), Shaw Communications (SJR.B.TO) and Quebecor (QBR.B.TO) gained 3.3 to 4.3%, while BCE Inc (BCE.TO), Corus Entertainment Inc (CJR.B.TO) and Telus Corp (T.TO) gained 2 to 2.2%.

Industrial shares Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO) and Transcontinental (TCL.A.TO) gained 6% and 5.5%, respectively. Several other stocks, including Cae Inc (CAE.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) and Russel Metals (RUS.TO) also moved up sharply.

Hudbay Materials (HBM.TO), up 11.4%, was the top gainer in the Materials index. Methanex Corp (MX.TO) surged up 8%.

Among the gainers in the financial space, Manulife Financial (MFC.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Ecn Capital Corp (ECN.TO), Igm Financial (IGM.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) gained 1.5 to 4%.

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada this morning showed Canada posted a trade surplus of C$ 1.4 billion in January, beating expectations for a shortfalll of C$ 1.4 billion. It was the largest surplus since July 14, and the first since May 2019.

The data showed Canada's exports surged 8.1% month-over-month in January to C$51.2 billion, while imports were up 0.9% at $ 49.8 billion in the month.

Meanwhile, the Ivey Purchasing Manager's Index in Canada rebounded to 60 in February, from a reading of 48.4 in the previous month, pointing to strong expansion in economic activity in six months.