(Adds portfolio manager comment, details; updates prices to
close)
* TSX ends up 97.85 points, or 0.74 percent, at 13,339.74
* Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups rise
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Resource stocks fueled a rally on
Canada's main stock index on Friday, as the market shrugged off
weak U.S. jobs data and losses among banks, one of which raised
cash and warned of a writedown.
The gains among miners, oil and gas producers and pipeline
operators outpaced rises among some key commodities as the
latest U.S. non-farm payrolls data fed investor doubts about
whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise rates this year.
"I would not be surprised to see the Toronto market have
some kind of bottom ... it certainly feels like it, and see a
major move higher," said Barry Schwartz, portfolio manager at
Baskin Financial Services.
"But we need the banks to cooperate and the banks aren't
cooperating today. That was a big shock to me, what National
did, raising capital here."
National Bank of Canada NA.TO , the smallest of Canada's
six main banks, fell 5.3 percent to C$40.89 after the lender
warned of an asset writedown and restructuring costs and sought
to raise C$300 million. ID:nCNWfVlGSa
The financials group, by far the biggest sector weight on
the index, pulled back 1.6 percent. Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO
fell 2.2 percent to C$71.97, and Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO
lost 2 percent to C$57.22.
But the banks' retreat was eclipsed by a 2.2 percent gain
for energy stocks, and 5.6 percent appreciation in the materials
sector, which includes miners and chemical producers.
Agnico Eagle Mines AEM.TO surged 11.8 percent to C$36.60
and Goldcorp Inc G.TO jumped 6.3 percent to C$17.11, while
crude rose between 1 and 2 percent and gold gained more than 2.1
percent. O/R GOL/
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended up 97.85 points, or 0.74 percent, at 13,339.74.
Eight of its 10 main groups rose, with advancers outnumbering
decliners 186 to 51.
Schwartz said the longer rates stay low the better for
equities more generally.
"We are in a low-growth, flat lined world and we've been
that way for five years and the stock market climbed a giant
amount," he said. "Low interest rates are the best thing that
can happen to competing assets to cash and fixed income."
The Fed has said it was on track to raise rates this year,
which would be the first such hike in nearly a decade. But the
latest data could temper expectations.
Job growth in September was much smaller than expected while
August figures were also revised lower. ID:nLNN2LEBGC ECONUS