A recovery in gold stocks and surging tech shares lifted Toronto stocks higher on Friday. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 98.32 points, or 1.17%, at 8,522.26.

The tech group jumped 4.62% as telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks gained 64¢ to $8.93.

Celestica rose $1.97 to $26.47, and Sierra Wireless was up $2.68 to $30.40.

Overall, eight of the TSX’s 10 subgroups finished higher with health-care issues logging a 2.34% increase.

The financials sector rose on anticipation the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates next week.

Bank of Montreal was up 85¢ at $58.05, while Bank of Nova Scotia rose 85¢ to $66.75.

Meanwhile, gold-mining stocks snapped a four-day losing streak to end 2.19% higher.

Placer Dome climbed 46¢ to $21.32, and Barrick Gold gained 48¢ to $27.22.

Shares of Molson Breweries fell almost 14%, one day after the company dramatically lowered its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ends on March 31. Molson said its third-quarter business – especially in Brazil – came in below expectations.

The company’s Class A shares dropped $4.86 to end the day at $30.20.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 21.18 points to finish at 98.32.

In New York stocks ended higher after solid results from General Electric Co. helped lift investors’ hopes for robust corporate earnings in coming weeks.

Wall Street is bracing for a rush of earnings reports in the next two weeks, when more than half the companies in the S&P 500 will issue their corporate scorecards.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 31.38 points, or 1.49%, to 2,140.46. The broader S&P 500 rose 7.78 points to 1,139.83. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI – News) rose 46.66 points to 10,600.51.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.4%, the Nasdaq rose 2.6%, and the S&P 500 rose 1.6%.

U.S. markets will be closed on Monday in observance of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The Canadian dollar weakened for the third straight day on Friday as the prospect of lower interest rates kept the currency from keeping up with a suddenly resurgent greenback.

The loonie finished at US76.91¢, down from US77.17¢ at the end of Thursday’s session.