Canadian Market Remains Firmly Up In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is up firmly in positive territory around noon on Friday thanks to weak oil prices and lower bond yields aiding sentiment.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures tumbled to $88.06 a barrel, before recovering to $90.95, still down more than 2%.

Additionally, weaker than expected jobs data from the U.S. has somewhat reduced the likelihood of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at its next meeting later this month. The report from the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 29,000 jobs in September after jumping by a downwardly revised 133,000 jobs in August, while economists had expected employment to increase by 85,000 jobs.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% in September from 4.1% in August. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

Technology, utilities, materials, communications and industrials stocks are among the prominent gainers. Healthcare stocks are showing weakness.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 228.85 points or 0.65% at 35,383.61 about a quarter past noon.

Technology stocks Celestica, Firan Technology Group and BlackBerry are up 3%, 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively. Shopify is gaining 1.8%, while Docebo and Constellation Software are rising 1.2% and 1%, respectively.

Utilities stocks Brookfield Infra Partners, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., Atco, Transalta Corporation and AltaGas are up 0.8%-1.5%.

Among communications stocks, Rogers Communications is rising 2.1%. Cogeco Communications and BCE are up with moderate gains.

In the materials sector, Ero Copper, Trekor Metals, Lundin Mining, First Quantum Minerals, Capstone Copper and Hudbay Minerals are up 3.3%-4.4%. Ngex Minerals, Teck Resources, 5N Plus, Ivanhoe Mines, Equinox Gold, Novagold Resources, Wheaton Precious Metals and Aris Mining Corporation are up 1%-3%.

Industrials stocks Cargojet and Aecon Group are up 4.3% and 4.2%, respectively.

Among the losers, Dundee Precious Metals, Canfor, Chrous Aviation, Exchange Income, Air Canada, Canadian Energy Services and Interfor shed 2%-3%.

Bombardier, Knight Therapeutics, Gildan Activewear, Labrador Iron Ore, Transcontinental, Western Forest Products, Ensign Energy Services, H&R Real Estate Investent, West Fraser Timber and Extendicare also dropped notably lower.