RIM UPGRADE, CHINA GROWTH BOOST TSX

The Toronto stock market closed higher Friday on further indications that China continues to recover from a recent economic slump and an analyst upgrade for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 50.96 points to 12,725.69, its best level in about 11 months, while the TSX Venture Exchange was 2.17 points higher to 1,235.32.

The Canadian dollar was down US0.62¢ to US100.83¢ even as Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales increased 1.7% in November to $49.9 billion, the highest level since May 2012. It was also higher than the 1.1% gain that economists expected.

Traders looked to the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate announcement on Wednesday. The loonie also fell alongside other cyclical currencies such as the Australian dollar and the Norwegian kroner.

U.S. indexes were lacklustre amid solid earnings reports from General Electric Co. and investment bank Morgan Stanley along with a disappointing read on consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 53.68 points to close at a five-year high of 13,649.7 as the University of Michigan’s consumer survey index slipped to 71.3 in January from 72.9 in December.

“Although the fiscal cliff was scaled back, consumers appear wary as to the impact of higher taxes on their disposable incomes,” said CIBC World Markets economist Andrew Grantham.

“[And] although the decline in sentiment during December had no discernable impact on spending, given the strong retail sales figures, lower confidence could begin to impact spending as 2013 continues,” Mr. Grantham added.

A disappointing earnings report from chip giant Intel Corp. helped push the Nasdaq down 1.29 points to 3,134.71, while the S&P 500 index also ended the session at a five-year high, up 5.04 points to 1,485.98.

Research In Motion Ltd. shares were up 7% to $15.71 after Jefferies & Co. upgraded the stock to buy from hold and raised its price target to US$19.50 from $13. The move came on expectations RIM will open its corporate BlackBerry email services to iPhone and Android devices.

Even before the upgrade, RIM stock had already surged more than 25% over the past week on rising optimism ahead of the unveiling of its new BB10 product on Jan. 30.

Traders were relieved by data showing that growth in China rose to 7.9% in the three months ended in December, up from the previous quarter’s 7.4%.

For the year, the world’s second-largest economy grew by 7.8%, which was China’s weakest annual performance since the 1990s.