MW: Canadian stocks rise, with miners leading gains
Canadian stocks, led by mining and energy companies, edged higher Friday in the first trading session of 2009, while financial stocks bucked the up trend.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, the S&P/TSX Composite (CA:ISPTX: news , chart , profile ) gained 24.32 points, or 0.3%, to 9,012. In 2008, the index tumbled 35%.
On Friday, advancing stocks outpaced declining stocks by a margin of 441 to 268.
In the mining sector, most shares posted gains, even as gold futures dropped. See Metals Stocks.
Shares of Denison Mines Corp. (CA:DML: news , chart , profile ) rallied 21% and Equinox Minerals Limited (CA:EQN: news , chart , profile ) gained 5%. Chariot Resources Limited (CA:CHD: news , chart , profile ) rose 5% and NovaGold Resources Inc (CA:NG: news , chart , profile ) rose 6.2%.
Shares of Barrick Gold Corporation (CA:ABX: news , chart , profile ) advanced 1.2%.
In the energy sector, Oilexco Incorporated (CA:OIL: news , chart , profile ) rallied 16% and Suncor Energy Inc. (CA:SU: news , chart , profile ) gained 2%.
Oil futures gave up nearly all of their early morning losses. Oil for February delivery was last down 16 cents to $44.40 a barrel on Globex. See Futures Movers.
In the financial sector, shares of Manulife Financial Corporation (CA:MFC: news , chart , profile ) fell 3.8% and Royal Bank of Canada (CA:RY: news , chart , profile ) dropped 0.6%. Toronto-Dominion Bank (CA:TD: news , chart , profile ) fell 1.6%.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks rose in light but volatile trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA:
, , ) rising 48 points to 8,828. See Market Snapshot.
In economic news, U.S. manufacturing contracted for the fifth straight month in December, the Institute for Supply Management said Friday, as no manufacturing industry reported growth in the month.
The overall ISM index stood at 32.4% in December, according to the institute, down from 36.2% in November. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting the December ISM index to rise slightly from November's reading, to 36.3%. See Economic Report.
