Canadian equities moved higher on Friday, led by mining companies as rising gold prices boosted the sector. Investors remained focused on continued stress in global bond markets and the lack of diplomatic progress in resolving tensions in the Middle East. According to Statistics Canada, retail trade increased by 0.6 per cent in June, reaching C$74.3 billion, with gains across seven of nine subsectors, notably among general merchandise retailers.
In US markets, financial stocks contributed positively to overall performance, while cryptocurrency-related companies recorded significant advances as bitcoin headed toward a weekly gain of more than 20 per cent. Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) both saw a jump in their share price and the materials sector gained 2 per cent, making it one of the strongest-performing sectors of the day.
| TSX | 36,620.23 | +254.81 |  |
| TSXV | 988.37 | +15.28 | |
| CSE | 168.07 | +0.97 | |
| DJIA | 53,277.01 | +517.80 | |
| NASDAQ | 26,180.45 | +113.29 | |
| S&P 500 | 7,674.37 | +33.21 | |
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.65 cents US compared to 72.51 cents US on Thursday.
US crude futures traded $0.07 lower at US$86.76 a barrel, but the Brent contract rose $0.24 to US$94.02 a barrel.
The price of gold was up US$102.63 to US$4,616.97.
In world markets, the Nikkei was down 200.43 points to ¥66,016.36, the Hang Seng was up 310.97 points to HK$26,009.46, the FTSE was up 68.40 points to ₤10,816.56, and the DAX was up 153.52 points to €26,136.56.
