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TORONTO, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market in Toronto was pushed higher Friday as gold mining stocks surged after weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data reduced expectations for an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 89.79 point, or 0.64 percent, to close at 14,226.78 points. Half of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.
Barrick Gold soared 11.61 percent to 24.81 Canadian dollars (19.17 U.S. dollars), Kinross Gold jumped 13.36 percent to 6.45 Canadian dollars, and Yamana Gold rose 11.71 percent to 6.20 Canadian dollars.
Diversified miners also gained as a range of base metals prices were boosted by a weaker U.S. dollar. The overall TSX metals & mining group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, registered a uncommon 5.47 percent increase.
Teck Resources advanced 7.28 percent to 13.85 Canadian dollars, and First Quantum Minerals gained 6.40 percent to 9.15 Canadian dollars.
Among main laggards was Manulife Financial, which declined 1.96 percent to 19.04 Canadian dollars. The insurer said late Thursday that it would take a 49 percent stake in a Toronto real estate company.
The overall financials group slipped 0.39 percent, with Royal Bank of Canada down 0.45 percent to 79.26 Canadian dollars, and Toronto-Dominion Bank also off 0.57 percent, to 57.25 Canadian dollars.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that the country's exports increased 1.5 percent to 41.8 billion Canadian dollars in April. Export prices were up 1.1 percent and volumes rose 0.5 percent.
Imports increased 0.9 percent to 44.7 billion Canadian dollars, as volumes were up 0.8 percent and prices edged up 0.1 percent.
As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from 3.2 billion Canadian dollars in March to 2.9 billion Canadian dollars in April.
The Canadian dollar traded higher at 0.7726 U.S. dollar, compared with Wednesay's closing rate of 0.7631 U.S. dollar. Enditem
