TORONTO – Canada's main stock index edged higher in morning trade on Friday as materials stocks led a broad but shallow rally and some heavyweight financial shares slipped.
At 10:07 am ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 23.84 points, or 0.16%, at 15 359.07. It is on track for a seventh straight rising session and a 0.7% gain on the week.
One of the most influential gainers on the index was Barrick Gold, which advanced 1.9% to C$19.40. Smaller miner Iamgold rose 2.1% to C$4.48.
Bullion prices edged higher, but are down more than $200/oz since the US presidential election victory of Donald Trump set off a US dollar rally.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertiliser companies, added 0.5%.
The Canadian economy retreated in October due to widespread weakness in the manufacturing sector and a decline in oil and gas extraction, reinforcing expectations that growth slowed in the final quarter of the year.
Shares of uranium producer Cameco advanced 1.1% to C$14.45 after US President-elect Donald Trump called for expanded US nuclear weapon capability.
CGI Group Inc added 1% to C$63.74. The IT company said on Thursday it had signed a ten-year, $150-million deal to renew and expand its partnership with iA Financial Group.
Logistics software company Descartes Systems Group rose 1.1% to C$28.36. It said it has acquired trade data company Datamyne for $52.7-million in cash.
The heavyweight energy and financial groups both slipped 0.1%, the only two of ten main groups trading lower.
Several major banks and insurers weighed on the overall index. Sun Life Financial Inc slipped 0.7% to C$51.81 and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd lost 0.9% to C$662.24.