Canadian stock markets ended a six-day winning streak Friday and a strong weekly gain, as the S&P/TSX Composite index surged through the 12,000 mark before closing lower in the final minute of trading. Gold reached a record high, energy prices made a sharp advance, and Canada's index of leading economic indicators pointed higher for the twelfth consecutive month, helping pace the senior Canadian equity benchmark to a weekly rise of 2.2 per cent.
Stocks continued to rally through most of the day, with advancers outpacing decliners 818 to 697, and 38 issuers reaching new 52-week highs. The S&P/TSX Composite climbed over 70 points in early trading, and reached an intraday high of 12,017.72 about 90 minutes into the session. At 4 p.m., the index was showing a gain of 17 points, a gain that evaporated 10 minutes after the close when market sell orders timed for execution at the close were matched to outstanding buy orders, clipping 30 points from the closing level of the index, dropping it to 11,927.59, a loss for the day of 18.38, or 0.2 per cent. The S&P/TSX Venture composite added 6.81 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 1,488.18, extending its weekly gain to 1.9 per cent.
WestJet rose 50 cents, or four per cent, to $12.85. The airline reduced its full-price fares by an average of 25 per cent across its 68-city network, extending the advanced booking period for flights to 330 days.
August gold shot up $9.60, or 0.8 per cent, to $1,258.30 US, after trading as high as $1,263.70 US, setting new closing and intraday records for the most actively-traded futures contract. Spot gold hit $1,262.50 US, also a record high. July silver climbed 40.8 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $19.184 US an ounce. Shares of Alamos Gold rose 75 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $17.50, bringing gains for the week to 11.7 per cent. Vancouver-based junior miner Mala Noche Resources said it received a letter Friday from Alamos disputing Goldcorp's $500-million US sale of the San Dimas mine in Mexico to Mala Noche. Shares of Mala Noche, headed by former Iamgold CEO Joseph Conway, trimmed two cents, or five per cent, to 36.5 cents. Vancouver-based Goldcorp, the second-largest bullion producer, added 36 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $46.51. Shares of junior gold explorer Northern Star Mining plunged 7.5 cents, or 48 per cent, to eight cents. The new CEO, George Pirie who joined the company in April, said a previous plan to achieve production this year on two deposits near Val D'Or, Quebec "is not a credible objective nor realizable goal." Pirie also announced plans to reduce and restructure the company's $43-million debt, calling it "unsustainable."
Crude prices added 39 cents to $77.18 US a barrel for the July contract, extending the week's gains to 4.6 per cent, while natural gas fell back below the $5.00 level, dropping 16.5 cents, or 3.2 per cent, to $4.997 per million Btu, up 4.3 per cent for the week.
On Wall Street, drug maker Sanofi Aventis trimmed $1.28, or four per cent, to $30.44 US after a new report linked its diabetes treatment to heightened cancer risks. Further study results are expected later this month, when the American Diabetes Association meets — the effects of Sanofi's drug on cancer have been widely studied in the past, with its safety affirmed.
