Canadian Market Extending Gains; TSX Scales Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is up on Friday, as investors continue to pick up shares amid rising optimism about economic recovery gathering pace thanks encouraging U.S. economic data and on vaccination campaign gaining momentum.

Expectations of additional fiscal stimulus from Joe Biden administration, and higher commodity prices also contribute to the positive mood in the market.

After opening on a firm note and paring some gains subsequently, the market moved higher, led by gains in technology, materials and energy shares, and it remains well placed in positive territory nearly an hour past noon.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 104.80 points or 0.58% at 18.146.77 about forty minutes past noon.

Technology stock BlackBerry (BB.TO) is up more than 9% on strong volumes. Enerplus Corporation (ERF.TO), Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Aphria Inc. (APHA.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Opex Text Corporation (OTEX.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) and Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) are also up sharply on impressive volumes.

In economic news, the Canadian economy shed 213,000 jobs in January, well above market forecasts of a 47,500 decline and following 53,000 drop in the previous month. Losses were entirely in part-time work and were concentrated in Central Canada.

The unemployment rate in Canada rose 0.6 percentage points to 9.4% in January, the highest since August 2020.

Another data from Statistics Canada showed the country's trade deficit narrowed to C$ 1.7 billion in December from C$ 3.6 billion in November.