TORONTO - The Toronto stock market moved higher Friday, helped along by the energy sector after the Alberta government announced it is cutting the royalties it charges the oil and gas industries.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 61.8 points to 12,041.5. The maximum rate for both natural gas and oil had been 50 per cent. But the Alberta government said Thursday the cap will be 40 per cent for oil and 36 per cent for gas.
Many producers responded to new, higher royalties a year ago by moving their investment out of the province.
The TSX also benefited from market heavyweight Potash Corp (TSX:POT).
The company's shares ran up $9.22 to $128.95 as it raised its first-quarter earnings guidance due to a sharp rebound in potash demand. The company said it now expects to earn between $1.30 and $1.50 per share for first three months of the year, up from earlier guidance of 70 cents to $1 per share. The guidance compared with a profit of $1.02 per share in the first three months of 2009.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar surged to its highest level since July 2008 on Friday, following the release of jobs data for February that came in better than expected.
"It was a very solid report - we saw the currency power above 98 cents within seconds of the employment numbers hitting the wires this morning," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
"I think it really does just reinforce the view that the Bank of Canada will be hiking interest rates earlier and more often than the U.S. Federal Reserve in the second half of this year."
Statistics Canada said 21,000 jobs were created last month, better than the 15,000 that had been expected by many economists, while the unemployment rate fell by one percentage point to 8.2 per cent from 8.3 per cent.
The loonie ran up 0.79 of a cent to 98.42 cents US, adding to recent gains for Canada's currency against the American dollar.
The TSX energy sector gained 0.45 per cent with the April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 74 cents to US$82.85 a barrel. EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) rose 22 cents to $34.82 and Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSX:COS.UN) was up 24 cents to $28.19.
Oil prices rose after the International Energy Agency said that world oil demand will rise this year due to surging economic activity in Asian countries, especially China. The IEA, which advises oil-consuming countries, predicts in its monthly report that oil demand will average 86.6 million barrels a day this year. That works out to 1.6 million barrels a day more than in 2009.
The base metals sector was up 1.1 per cent as May copper added one cent to US$3.39 a pound. Teck Resources climbed 46 cents to $41.49.
Financials also made headway, up 0.44 per cent with Royal Bank (TSX:RY) up 39 cents to $58.44.
April gold on the Nymex was ahead $3.50 to US$1,111.70 an ounce.
The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 5.45 points to 1,566.39.
New York markets had a slight advance, helped along by a stronger than expected report on February retail sales.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose 0.3 per cent in February, surpassing expectations that sales would decline by 0.2 per cent.
Excluding autos, sales rose 0.8 per cent, far better than the 0.1 per cent rise outside of autos that economists had forecast.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 11.9 points to 10,623.8 after rising 45 points on Thursday.
The Nasdaq composite index was up 1.02 points to 2,368.48 to while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.8 of a point to 1,151.05.
Fertilizer producer Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) gained after it announced that its hostile takeover bid for U.S. company CF Industries Holdings Inc. will be allowed to expire. Agrium shares climbed $4.14 to $72.46.
Agrium had offered US$45 in cash plus one of its shares for each CF share in a bid that valued Illinois-based company at nearly US$5.5 billion. However the offer was contingent on CF dropping its own takeover bid for Iowa-based fertilizer producer Terra Industries Inc., which is now in favour of the CF deal.
In other corporate news, First Uranium Corp. (TSX:FIU) shot up 29 cents or 19.46 per cent to $1.78 will issue between $125 million and $150 million in secured, convertible debt to several parties including current shareholder groups. The Toronto-based company warned last month that its financial condition had been "severely compromised" by problems getting government environmental approval for a future storage facility in South Africa.
Goldcorp Inc. earned a profit of US$66.7 million in its latest quarter as revenue grew nearly 30 per cent from a year ago .The gold miner, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said Thursday it earned US$66.7 million or nine cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a profit of $958.1 million or $1.31 per share a year ago. Its shares added three cents to $40.90.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.8 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1 per cent.
London's FTSE 100 index added 0.27 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.78 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.48 per cent.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.8 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1 per cent.
London's FTSE 100 index added 0.47 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.79 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.21 per cent.