The Canadian stock market was higher on Friday as shares of Blackberry maker RIM soared and the latest data indicated that China is going to continue to recover from a recent economic slump.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 50.96 points, or 0.40 percent, to 12,725.69, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index increased 2.17 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,235.32.
Blackberry maker Canadian company Research In Motion shares were up 7.02 percent to 15.71 Canadian dollars after global investment banking firm Jefferies & Co. upgraded the stock to buy from hold and raised its price target to 19.50 U.S. dollars from 13 U.S. dollars, based on expectations that RIM will open its corporate BlackBerry email services to iPhone and Android devices.
The information technology sector was up 2.23 percent, led by RIM stocks which surged more than 25 percent over the past week on rising optimism about the unveiling of its new BB10 product on Jan. 30. Adding to investor's optimism, China's economy grew at a slightly faster-than-expected rate in the fourth quarter in 2012, helping boost commodity-related shares on the Canadian stock market. China's economy grew by 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter in 2012, up from 7.4 percent in the previous quarter.
All of the eight sectors on the main index went up. The energy sector, which makes up about 25 percent of the main index, rose 0. 45 percent even though oil prices were little changed after jumping about two U.S. dollars over the past two sessions when inventory data showed a sharp decrease in stocks last week. Oil firm Canadian Natural Resources closed 2.11 percent higher to 29. 95 Canadian dollars per share.
Metals and mining sector increased 0.46 percent as March copper on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed up two U.S. cents to 3. 68 U.S. dollars a pound. Teck Resources increased 0.98 percent to 37.07 Canadian dollars per share.
With regard to gold, Barrick Gold Corp. gained 0.51 percent to 33.75 Canadian dollars a share. The company's main competitor Goldcorp was up 0.19 percent to 36.83 Canadian dollars per share.
At closing, the Canadian dollar weakened to 1.0084 U.S. dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) as traders were looking forward to the next interest rate announcement by the Bank of Canada next week, compared with 1.0147 U.S. dollars on Thursday.
