A broad-based rally led by the financials and health care sectors helped Canada’s main stock index close higher, while U.S. markets also rose.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 52.80 points at 16,140.35 Friday to mark a 144.14-point gain for the week.
Energy saw gains through much of the week but ended on a down note, said Les Stelmach, portfolio manager at Franklin Bissett Investment Management.
“Energy had a decent week, even if it was a little softer today. Of the 11 indices, energy is a bit of a laggard.”
The energy index lost 0.45 per cent Friday, while most otherwise indices marked gains including a 2.33% rise in the cannabis-heavy health care index and 0.74 for the influential finance index.
The fall in energy stocks came as the April crude contract closed down 9¢ at US$58.52 per barrel, while Imperial Oil said it would slow development of a $2.6-billion oilsands project because of uncertainty.
The crude price did, however, close up $2.45 for the week on lower inventories and signs of cutbacks in production from OPEC.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but for a lot of oil producers in Canada the difference between $55 let’s say, and $58 is actually quite a lift,”said Stelmach.
Recent economic news that points to Canada not raising interest rates has helped several other sectors such as utilities, real estate and finance, he said.
“Despite some flickers of interest in energy, a number of the more defensive sectors of the market are doing quite well, and really anything more tightly correlated with interest rates seem to be doing well.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 138.93 points at 25,848.87. The S&P 500 index gained 14 points at 2,822.48, while the Nasdaq composite rose 57.62 points at 7,688.53.
The Canadian dollar averaged US74.95¢ compared with an average of US75.04¢ on Thursday.
The April gold contract closed up US$7.80 at US$1,302.90 an ounce and the May copper contract rose US1.5¢ at US$2.91 a pound. The April natural gas contract retreated 6¢ at US$2.80 per mmBTU.