The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 30.78 points, or 0.23 percent, at 13,504.61 shortly after the open.
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Encana Corporation dropped 3.2 per cent to $10.39, while Suncor Energy Inc was down 0.7 per cent at $36.86.
The December contract for natural gas dropped a penny to US$2.357. The stock provided the biggest boost to the Dow and the S&P 500, and helped lifted the S&P consumer discretionary index by about 1 per cent.
Canada’s main stock market in Toronto Thursday managed to follow the rising streak as the medical care giant Valeant and gold shares jumped sharply. Energy and raw-materials producers retreated at least 0.5 percent Friday, as oil headed for a third weekly loss.
Gold futures rose 1.1 percent to $1,080.9 an ounce, and copper prices advanced 0.1 percent to $4,615 a tonne.
On the commodity markets, the December gold contract gained US$1.60 at US$1,079.5, while the January crude oil contract fell 17 cents to US$41.55. Economists had been expecting an increase of 0.3 percent.
Financials rose 0.2 per cent, including a 1 per cent gain for Brookfield Asset Management Inc to $46.03.
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups remained higher, with health-care stronger by 1.4%, information technology climbing 1%, and telecoms up 0.6%.
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On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Thursday climbed to 0.7520 US dollar at 4 O’clock (the Canadian Eastern Daylight Time), when compared with 0.7509 USA dollar on Wednesday, as the greenback edged lower.
