TSX inches higher despite selloff

The Toronto stock market closed Friday with minor gains as investors sold off shares in mining companies and smartphone-maker BlackBerry.

The S&P/TSX composite gained 9.48 points at 12,757.35, while the TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.37 points to 1,106.35.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.09 of a cent (U.S.) to 97.72 cents.

Also looming is the possibility of a resolution to the debt troubles in Cyprus could be in sight, as planning drags on into the weekend ahead of a Monday deadline. On the TSX, the information technology sector was the biggest drag, falling 2.8 per cent, as BlackBerry shares fell 8 per cent.

On Wall Street, uncertainties with the economic future of Cyprus didn’t shake investors.

Instead, U.S. earnings from Darden Restaurants, owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, beat Wall Street expectations on earnings for the quarter on Friday, as did luxury retailer Tiffany.

And Nike said late Thursday that third-quarter profits spiked 55 per cent. The Dow Jones industrials lifted 90.54 points to 14,512.03. The Nasdaq was ahead 22.40 points at 3,245 and the S&P 500 index jumped 11.09 points to 1,556.89. In commodities, the April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.26 to settle at $93.71 a barrel. Gold stocks were lower as April bullion fell $7.70 to end at $1,606.10 an ounce. The May copper contract gained 3.1 cents to $3.466 a pound.