Roundup: Canadian stocks decline after gaining six sessions in a row

Canadian stocks declined after gaining six sessions in a row. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed 18.38 points, or 0.15 percent, lower at 11,927.59 on Friday. For the week, the benchmark equity index rose 2.23 percent.

Eleven out of 12 sectors on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) registered losses on Friday with the index measuring the consumer staples sector losing 1.16 percent and the index measuring the real estate sector declining 1.79 percent. The losses and gains of all the other sectors were less than one percent.

Gold prices hit a closing and intraday record on Friday. Gold for August delivery rose 0.77 percent to 1,258.30 U.S. dollars an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Rally of gold producers on the TSX pushed the index measuring the materials sector higher, the only sector that registered gains on Friday. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest bullion producer, increased 1,97 percent. Goldcorp Inc., Canada’s second largest gold producer, added 0.78 percent.

Gold has been on a winning streak for nine weeks, and gained 15 percent for the year.

Data released by Statistics Canada on Friday showed that 667, 400 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits in April in Canada, virtually unchanged from the previous month.

Also according to Statistics Canada, non-residents resumed their substantial acquisitions of Canadian securities in April, mainly in the form of government bonds. Meanwhile, Canadian acquisitions of foreign securities slowed.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney reiterated on Friday that future interest-rate moves aren’t “preordained” because of an uneven global recovery.

The Bank of Canada increased its target lending rate from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent on June 1, thus became the first central bank in the Group of Seven nations to raise interest rates since July 2008.

The Canadian dollar reached a one-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Friday.

One U.S. dollar was buying 1.0217 Canadian dollars at close of the week’s trading, compared with one U.S. dollar buying 1.0278 Canadian dollars on Thursday and one U.S. dollar buying 1.0321 Canadian dollars on last Friday.