Canada’s main stock index jumped on Friday, supported by a modest gain in gold prices. Mining stocks led gainers on the TSX, followed by the financial sector, while the telecom market was the biggest decliner. Statistics Canada reported that retail sales fell 0.2 per cent to C$66.4 billion in March. This is the third consecutive month that sales had contracted, underscoring the softness in economic growth and impact of high interest rates on consumer spending. Traders enjoyed this news, which seems to solidify bets that the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates in June.
U.S. investors celebrated the end of a choppy week on Wall Street ahead of their long weekend and Monday’s Memorial Day. U.S. markets advanced after the Dow Jones’ worst session in more than a year.
| TSX | 22,320.87 | +120.08 |  |
| TSXV | 607.95 | +6.12 | |
| CSE | 182.03 | +0.34 | |
| DJIA | 39,069.59 | +4.33 | |
| NASDAQ | 16,920.79 | +184.76 | |
| S&P 500 | 5,299.64 | +31.80 | |
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.18 cents U.S. compared with 72.80 cents U.S. on Thursday.
U.S. crude futures traded $0.87 higher at $77.44 a barrel, and the Brent contract added $0.77 to $82.13 a barrel.
The price of gold was up $0.30 to US$2,332.29.
In world markets, the Nikkei was down 457.11 points to 38,646.11, the Hang Seng was down 259.77 points to 18,608.94, the FTSE was down 21.64 points to 8,317.59, but the DAX was up 2.05 points to 18,693.37.
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