Canadian shares advanced as investors cheered China's central bank cutting interest rates again.
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.5% to 13,939.58 at 12:14 p.m. in New York. Six out of the 10 share groups advanced.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, gained 1.8% even as gold fell on Friday. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, rose 1.6% to C$20.22. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), Canada’s second-largest gold miner, slid less than 0.1% to C$9.96.
Spot gold slid 0.3% to $1,162.35 an ounce.
The financials group, which accounts for approximately 36% of the main measure, more than any other group, rose 0.8%.
Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, edged up 0.7% to C$74.94. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, inched up 0.3% to C$41.38.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, fell 1.2% as oil, Canada’s largest export, fell sharply on Friday.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's biggest energy company, slumped 2.2% to C$37.27.
Canadian Natural Resources (TSE:CNQ), the country's largest heavy-oil producer, decreased 1.1% to C$30.83.
The benchmark U.S. crude contract was down 2.1% at $44.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In economic news, Canada's annual inflation rate retreated to 1.0% in September on lower prices for gasoline, marking the 10th straight month it has been below the Bank of Canada's 2.0% target, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
In the U.S. market, all three major U.S. indexes advanced to two-month highs on Friday, after a surprise rate cut in China amplified a rally driven by strong results from Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon.