(MENAFN- Baystreet.ca) Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, set for its fourth straight weekly gain, as an increase in oil prices lifted shares of energy companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index spiked 72.35 points to open the week's final session at 15,283.57, following 10 straight winning sessions. The index has gained close to a thousand points since the start of 2019.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.06 cents to 75.35 cents U.S.
Bombardier is reportedly making progress resolving problems with double-decker passenger trains, which have drawn criticism from buyer Swiss Federal Railways. Bombardier shares moved ahead three cents, or 1.4%, to $2.12.
RBC cut the price target on Husky Energy to $19.00 from $20.00. Husky shares gave back 41 cents, or 2.4%, to $17.04.
RBC cut the price target on Trevali Mining to $0.60 from $1.00. Trevali gathered a penny, or 2.9%, to 36 cents.
The biggest percentage gainers on the TSX were shares of Cronos Group, which rose 94 cents, or 5.2%, to $19.09, followed by a gain of $1.85, or 3.3%, in Canopy Growth, to $58.82, after brokerage CIBC initiated its coverage on both cannabis producers with "outperform" ratings.
Iamgold fell 17 cents, or 4.3%, to $3.81, after BMO cut its rating on the gold producer to "market perform" from "outperform".
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investment in this country acquired $9.5 billion of Canadian securities in November, mainly bonds.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $4.1 billion as they sold U.S. shares. The agency says the divestment in foreign securities was the largest in a year and followed two strong months of acquisitions.
Elsewhere, the agency's Consumer Price Index rose 2.0% on a year-over-year basis in December, following a 1.7% increase in November. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, inflation rose 0.2% in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange re-strengthened 2.95 points to 597.58.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour of trade, as health-care issues sprouted 2.5%, consumer discretionary stocks took on 0.9%, and industrials were better by 0.7%.
The three groups in the red were gold, subsiding 1.3%, while real-estate and materials each lost 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Friday as investors cheered potential progress in trade negotiations between China and the U.S.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was propelled forward 135.31 points to 24,505.41, led by gains in Chevron and Boeing.
The S&P 500 gained 15.84 points to 2,651.80, trading out of correction territory, as the energy, tech and industrials sectors outperformed.
The NASDAQ Composite climbed 27.34 points to 7,111.80.
The major indexes were on track to post their fourth-straight week of gains. They were all up more than 1% for the week entering Friday's session.
The gains come as the corporate earnings season kicks off. Major banks like J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs all released their quarterly results this week.
Most recently, Netflix reported better-than-expected earnings, boosted by stronger-than-forecast subscriber growth. However, the stock fell 1.8% on the back of disappointing guidance for the first quarter of 2019.
Dow member American Express also fell after reporting disappointing earnings.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had floated the idea of easing tariffs on Chinese goods as the two countries continue to negotiate on trade.
The report sent the major indexes to their session highs on Thursday. However, a senior administration told media outlets that there is 'no discussion of lifting tariffs now.'
Manufacturing data released by the Federal Reserve also showed the sector's biggest gain in 10 months in December. Those numbers were boosted by strong production in motor vehicles and other goods.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell slightly, lifting yields to 2.76% from Thursday's 2.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 77 cents to $52.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank nine dollars to $1,293.30 U.S. an ounce.
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