TSX climbs on U.S. jobs data, energy shares
By Solarina Ho and John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index advanced on Friday as upbeat economic data reflected strength in the U.S. labor market and shares of energy producers climbed with the price of U.S. crude oil. In the United States, all three main stock indexes, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI>, the S&P 500 <.SPX> and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC>, were up over 1 percent. U.S. data showed employment growth rebounded in April with 223,000 new jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate, signs of a pickup in the economy after a lackluster first quarter. “It looks like the market was pretty pleased with the U.S. jobs report this morning, and that's led to some risk appetite,” said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at StennerZohny Investment Partners+ of Richardson GMP Ltd, which manages about C$27 billion in assets. “Energy has been on a nice run, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a pullback,” he added. “But relative to the rest of the market, energy remains very cheap.” The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> closed up 81.20 points, or 0.54 percent, at 15,170.02. Eight of the 10 main sectors on the index were higher. Royal Bank of Canada was up 0.4 percent at C$79.18, and Toronto Dominion Bank rose 0.6 percent to C$55.59. The hefty financial sector, which makes up some 35 percent of the index's weight, was up 0.3 percent. Energy stocks climbed 1.4 percent. Suncor Energy rose 1 percent to C$36.77, and Encana Corp added 2.4 percent to C$16.99. (Editing by Peter Galloway and Matthew Lewis)
