Industrials, financials help TSX rise

TORONTO (CP) — The Toronto stock market closed flat on Friday to cap off a lacklustre week as concerns about the future of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus helped weigh on the TSX.

The S&P/TSX composite index edged up 3.01 points to 13,478.34, led by rising industrial and financial stocks.

The Canadian dollar was off the worst levels of the day amid data showing a better than expected read on retail sales and very low pressure on prices.

But the loonie still finished down 0.03 of a cent to 95.02 cents US as Statistics Canada reported that October retail sales rose one per cent, much higher than the 0.3 per cent gain that economists had expected. But excluding autos, sales were flat against an expected 0.2 per cent rise.

On the inflation front, the agency reported that consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 0.7 per cent in October, down from 1.1 per cent in September and lower than the 0.9 per cent rate that had been expected.

U. S. indexes were up, with both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 finishing at fresh record highs.

The Dow was ahead 54.78 points to 16,064.77 and the S&P 500 climbed 8.91 points to 1,804.76. The Nasdaq was 22.49 points higher at 3,991.65.

The small advance came a day after the Dow industrials closed above 16,000 for the first time amid data showing that jobless insurance applications are back almost to where they were before the Great Recession.