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Fri Jul 18, 2:36 PM

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By Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market jumped about 100 points mid-afternoon Friday with financial stocks again getting lift from the U.S. financial sector while energy stocks started to revive at the end of a punishing week amid a series of sharp declines in oil prices.

New York markets were mixed as investors took in a better than expected earnings report from Citigroup, America's biggest bank but investors also dealt with disappointments from technology giants Google, Microsoft and from Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage firm.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 103.46 points to 13,563.71 as the financial sector gained 1.25 per cent following the release of the Citigroup results.

"Without a sense of confidence in the financial system, the banking system, the stock market isn't going to go anywhere. It doesn't matter if you own an energy company or a mining company, they're not going to do well," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier.

And he warned that "the index still looks like it wants to go down some more - so there are still going to be some fragile times here."

The main index is down about 10 per cent from the high of 15,073 level from just one month ago.

The TSX Venture Exchange rose 5.67 points to 2,288.98.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 99.32 cents US after Statistics Canada reported wholesale trade rose 1.6 per cent in May due in large part to higher global demand for agricultural chemicals. The agency also said its composite leading index was unchanged in June, as factory orders and the housing outlook turned down but household spending remained strong.

New York's Dow Jones industrial average was up 28.01 points to 11,474.67, after rising almost 500 points in the past two days.

The Nasdaq composite index lost 31.85 points to 2,280.45 and the S&P 500 index added 1.59 points to 1,258.73.

Citigroup gained $1.50 to US$19.47 after a second-quarter loss of US$2.5 billion beat analyst forecasts. This followed stronger-than-expected results earlier in the week from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, easing worries about American banks.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Merrill Lynch lost US$4.89 billion during the second quarter, hit by almost $10 billion of writedowns and charges. Merrill's shares declined 82 cents to US$29.91.

Toronto financial sector gainers included Royal Bank (TSX:RY), up 77 cents to $45.2 and Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) gained 82 cents to $45.80.

The TSX energy sector was up one per cent as the August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up 41 cents to US$129.70 a barrel.

EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) rose 99 cents to $78.99 while Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) gave back 86 cents to $55.36.

Industrial stocks also lifted the TSX as Canadian National Railways (TSX:CNR) climbed $1.20 to $51.78.

Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) added nine cents to $7.16 despite news that its proposal to supply Toronto with new streetcars was rejected. Toronto Transit Commission chairman Adam Giambrone says the Bombardier design "would have derailed on Toronto streets and they should have known this."

Investor disappointment was directed at Google, whose earnings jumped 35 per cent to US$1.25 billion or $4.63 per share, missing analyst expectations by 11 cents per share. Google stock fell $50.93 or 9.5 per cent to US$482.51 amid worries that the ailing U.S. economy is hitting the Internet search leader.

Microsoft's quarterly profit jumped 42 per cent, or 13 per cent factoring in a hefty charge a year ago, short of Wall Street projections. Its stock softened $1.84 to US$25.68.

In other Canadian corporate news, MDS Inc. (TSX:MDS) is cutting 210 jobs at its MDS Pharma Services and MDS Analytical Technologies divisions. Restructuring charges and writedowns will cut this year's net profit by $20 million, but the downsizing is expected to reduce costs by $20 million annually. MDS shares climbed 15 cents to $14.74.