Gold Shares Surge, Helping Canadian TSX Higher

Washington (Dec 5)  Toronto's  main index rose Friday, as surging gold shares helped offset significant weakness among energy stocks. An eventful day in the markets was highlighted by an upbeat US jobs report that may convince the  Federal Reserve  to raise interest rates later this month.

The US economy added 211,000 new jobs in November and the nation's unemployment rate held at 5%.

On the other hand, the Canadian unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1% as the economy shed jobs.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 34.10 points, or 0.26%, to 13358.77.

Energy stocks dropped 2.3% as  OPEC  said it will refrain cutting production.

West Texas Intermediate futures for January fell  USD1.11  , or 2.7%, to settle at  USD39.97  a barrel, back near its lowest since August.

In merger news from the oil patch,  Norfolk Southern Corp.  (NSC) said its board of directors has unanimously rejected Canadian Pacific's (CP, CP.TO) unsolicited takeover bid.

CP shares slipped 4.3%.

Meanwhile,  Suncor Energy  (SU.TO) has extended its hostile  USD4.3-billion  takeover bid for  Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. 

Suncor lost 1.8%, while  Canadian Oil Sands  rose 2.6%.

Source: AllianceNews