Toronto stocks moved higher Friday, rebounding from a steep loss in the previous day’s session, as strength in the financial and telecommunications sectors overshadowed weakness in commodities.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 91.96, or 0.85%, to 10,885.33. On Thursday, the market fell 253.56 points, a drop of 2.3%.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up on the session, with the financial sector up 1.77%

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce gained $2.75, or 4.17%, to $68.75.

Meanwhile, Manulife Financial Corp. fell only moderately in Friday’s session, moving down 27¢, or 1.21%, to $22.09. Yesterday, shares in the insurer plummeted 15% after it announced that it was cutting its dividend by half.

The telecommunications group gained 2.23%

Telus Corp. gained $1.87, or 6.08%, to $32.63. The firm announced a drop in profit of 9% to $244 million for the quarter, a drop of 9% from last year; further, the company said it would be stepping up cost-cutting measures and announcing redundancies.

The materials sector fell 0.78%. Gold futures fell US$3.40, or 0.35%, to US$959.50 on the session.

Yamana Gold Inc. fell 15¢, or 1.49%, to $9.95.

The energy index edged down 0.08%. Light, sweet crude for September delivery finished down US$1.01, or 1.4%, at US$70.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Imperial Oil fell 36¢, or 0.88%, to $40.59.

The Canadian dollar dropped US0.51¢ to US92.35¢. 


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 4.46, or 0.38%, to 1,192.58.

In New York, investors were buoyed by better-than-expected news that U.S. unemployment had fallen to 9.4% in July from 9.5% the previous month.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 113.81, or 1.23%, to 9,370.07, the S&P 500 index gained 13.40, or 1.34%, to 1,010.48, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 27.09, or 1.37%, to 2,000.25.