TORONTO, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main market bounced back from its lowest closing rate in six weeks on Friday, as Energy and Materials sectors contributed to the index posting its largest single-day increase since March 1.
Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite jumped 185.34 points, or 1.20 percent to close the week at 15,582.04 points. All of the ten sub-groups closed the session ahead.
The TSX Energy group had the biggest impact, soaring 3.01 percent from gains in both crude oil and natural gas prices. A barrel of Brent for July delivery shot up 2.05 percent to 49.26 U.S. dollars after Saudi Arabia assured that Russia would take part in the upcoming extension to the supply cuts agreed to at the beginning of the year by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members.
Meanwhile, June natural gas futures on the on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.64 percent to 3.27 U.S. dollars per million British thermal units.
As a result, shares of Calgary-based Enerplus Corporation and Baytex Energy Corp surged 10.47 percent and 9.84 percent, apiece. Pengrowth Energy Corporation and Spartan Energy Corp also thrived, rising 5.45 percent and 5.26 percent, each. Suncor Energy Inc, the largest producer of crude oil in Canada, ended the week at 42.61 Canadian dollars (31.08 U.S. dollars) a share, a 2.06 percent increase.
Also posting strong gains were Materials and Consumer Staples groups, rising 1.37 percent and 1.25 percent, respectively.
The TSX Material group, which is comprised of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, snapped a run of fourth straight losing sessions after the prices of gold and silver neutralized. The spot price of an ounce of gold inched down 0.01 percent to 1,227.90 U.S. dollars while the same weight of silver ticked up 0.06 percent to 16.31 dollars.
Gold miners Kinross Gold Corporation and B2Gold Corp had strong days, gaining 4.66 percent and 3.01 percent, each. Meanwhile, silver miners were led by First Majestic Silver Corp and Silver Wheaton Corp finished the week with respectively ascents of 3.86 percent and 2.27 percent.
The remaining groups to finish the week ahead were: Telecommunications (0.90 percent), Financials (0.87 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.71 percent), Information Technology (0.49 percent), Industrials (0.49 percent), Utilities (0.43 percent), and Health Care (0.43 percent).
The Financial group received a boost after all of the country's five biggest banks finished ahead. Shares of No. 3 ranked Bank of Nova Scotia saw shares jumped 2.08 percent to 76.72 Canadian dollars (55.95 U.S. dollars). No. 2 Toronto-Dominion Bank and No. 5 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce saw shares climb 1.26 percent and 1.21 percent, each. Rounding out the list was top-ranked Royal Bank of Canada and No. 4 Bank of Montreal with advancements of 1.07 percent and 0.95 percent.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the country's unemployment rate in April fell 0.2 percent to 6.5 percent, the lowest since Oct. 2008.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.17 cents to close at the week at 0.7293 U.S. dollars.
