The Canadian dollar snapped its losing streak and the Toronto stock market rose Friday after news of improvement in Canada's job market, while the Dow finished higher amid rising hopes for positive second-quarter corporate results. The loonie closed at 72.62 cents (U.S.), up a quarter of a U.S. cent, as Statistics Canada released a report showing a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.7 per cent from 7.8 per cent.
The dollar's rise snapped a six-trading-day freefall that had left the loonie back at mid-May levels. The loonie still lost 1.95 cents (U.S.) this week.
Analysts had previously speculated the Bank of Canada may cut interest rates to bolster the economy when it meets next Tuesday, a move that would reduce the attractiveness of the Canadian dollar. But Friday's positive jobless report could change analysts' views.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 6.02 points at 7,077.56, led higher by consumer staple stocks. Cott Corp. hit a 52-week high of $31, up 8 per cent or $2.33.
The junior TSX Venture Exchange added 4.77 to 1,122.86.
Aluminum giant Alcan closed up 5 cents at $41.80 after a report it may face competition in its bid for French rival Pechiney SA. The Financial Times of London reported Friday that several parties interested in Pechiney had contacted the Paris-based firm.
On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average closed up 83.55 points to 9,119.59 after falling 120 points Thursday.
General Electric reported Friday that its second-quarter profits fell but met analysts' expectations and its revenue beat forecasts. GE stock slipped by the close, off 7 cents at $28.12 (U.S.).
The Nasdaq composite rose 18.07 points to 1,733.93 and the S&P 500 was up 9.44 points at 998.14.
U.S. markets were also led higher by gains from Intel and Home Deport following brokerage upgrades. Home Depot rose 74 cents to $33.17 (U.S.) and Intel rose 50 points to $23.34 (U.S.).
For the week, the TSX was up about 1 per cent, the Dow rose 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 4.3 per cent.
"GE is being viewed as a positive - it's one of the companies that can't miss, and it didn't," said Brian Pears, head equity trader at Victory Capital Management.
Canada's employment report boosted the loonie as it indicated the Bank of Canada might hold off on interest rate cuts.
"The Canadian dollar has already gotten a big pop from the jobs report," said Marc Levesque, senior economist at TD Bank.
But he noted that part-time jobs were the big driver, not full-time jobs. "There's really a lot of soft spots in this data," he said.
In other economic reports, the Conference Board of Canada's monthly survey of consumer attitudes shows that consumer confidence fell 3.9 index points in June to 119.1, amid unease about future job growth.
The Toronto market rose in earlier trading after the jobs report was released, but it slipped into the red as the market began to look ahead to next week, said Fred Ketchen, manager of equity trading at Scotia Capital.
"I think we're waiting until next week to find out what the Bank of Canada does," Ketchen said.
With the quarterly earnings season here, "the markets have had a pretty good run over the last little while," Ketchen said. "We could be in for a period of flat markets, which is probably warranted given the kind of increase we've had."
In U.S. news, Coca-Cola fell 10 cents to $43.91 (U.S.) after federal investigators began looking into charges by a former worker.
In Canadian corporate news, Potash Corp. has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a 26 per cent stake in Arab Potash Corp. of Jordan. Its shares rose $1.42 to $87.50.
Toronto-based miner Gabriel Resources is defending its proposal for a gold development in Romania, which has faced opposition from the country's prime minister and forced the company to revise a financing plan. Its stock fell 24 cents, or nearly 10 per cent, to $2.28.
Great-West Lifeco said it will cut jobs as a result of its just-completed merger with Canada Life, but won't give any details yet. In addition, Great-West is selling off some of Canada Life's operations in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. It shares rose 45 cents to $39.
Active stocks included Nortel Networks, up 12 cents to $4.47; Abitibi-Consolidated, off 6 cents at $8.55; and Bombardier, off 4 cents at $5.05.
TSX advancers narrowly beat out decliners 534 to 525 with 227 unchanged in trading of 186.5 million shares valued at $2.6 billion.
The Nasdaq Canada index rose 1.03 to 316.28.
In other news, the World Trade Organization ruled Friday against heavy import duties on steel imposed by the U.S. administration, saying they violate global trade rules.
The European Union and seven other countries had complained that the duties - supposed to protect the U.S. steel industry from cheap imports - were unfairly hurting their own producers.
In U.S. economic news, higher costs for energy products - including gasoline - sent wholesale prices higher by 0.5 per cent in June, more than analysts expected.
Also, the U.S. trade deficit widened by 0.5 per cent to about $41.8 billion (U.S.).
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