"The market is feeling a little bit more buoyant than it was for most of the week," said Peggy Bowie, senior trader at Manulife Asset Management. "We are seeing a bounce back in commodities." US crude oil futures settled up 1.5 percent at $46.22 a barrel, rebounding from five-month lows, on assurances by Saudi Arabia that Russia is ready to join Opec in extending supply cuts to reduce a persistent glut.
Suncor Energy Inc climbed 1.9 percent to C$42.56, while TransCanada Corp, which reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, rose 2 percent to C$63.93. Tourmaline Oil added 6.3 percent to C$27.69 after it reported strong quarterly earnings on Thursday. The overall energy group gained 3 percent, while the materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.4 percent.
Copper prices advanced 0.8 percent to $5,584.85 a tonne and gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1,228 an ounce. All of the index's 10 main groups ended higher. Recent solid corporate earnings and a cheaper Canadian dollar encouraged investors to dip their toes back in the market, Bowie said. The loonie recovered some ground after hitting a fresh 14-month low at C$1.3793.
Bank of Nova Scotia, rose nearly 2 percent to C$76.63, while the heavyweight financials group ended up 0.9 percent. Non-bank mortgage lender Home Capital Group got a boost after it announced that Alan Hibbens would replace co-founder Gerald Soloway on its board. But the shares reversed course to end 2.7 percent lower at $5.85, holding just above the 13-year low it had plunged to last week at $5.68. Great-West Lifeco Inc fell 5.5 percent to C$34.47 as CIBC cut its target price on the stock. The financial services company had reported earnings on Thursday. Air Canada, which reported a narrower-than-expected loss on Friday, saw its shares rise nearly 9 percent to C$13.94.
Copyright Reuters, 2017