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Apr. 9, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Recovering commodities prices and easing worries over the Greece debt situation helped the Canadian stock market to hover in the green in mid-morning deals Friday. The S&P/TSX Composite Index greeted noon up 88.77 points to 12,202.30. Also, an industry data which revealed growth in U.S. retail sales helped lift sentiment. Meanwhile, today's data revealed that the Canadian economy added jobs for the ninth straight month in March, albeit at a slower pace. Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar retreated from parity with its U.S. counterpart, amid jobs report. Base metals stocks were under the limelight right from the word go, with the index gaining 1.81%. Teck Resources was up 2.01% and Major Drilling rose 1.55%. Crew Energy and Cenovus Energy rose over 2% each. Meanwhile, Athabasca Oil Sands, which made its debut in the previous session, slipped for the second day, losing 4.32%. The company raised $1.35 billion in Canada's biggest initial public offering since 1999. Oil and gas company Rock Energy eased 0.45%. The company announced the promotion of John Van de Pol to President and CFO. John joined Rock in April 2009 after a 15 year career with Northrock Resources where he held the position of Senior Vice President and CFO. The price of gold edged up, continuing its week-long upsurge. Among gold stocks, Eldorado Gold gained 2.83% and Barrick Gold added 0.71%. Blackberry maker Research In Motion edged up 0.52%. The company announced that it will buy Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems from Harman International. ForceLogix Technologies rallied 28.57%. It said Callidus Software has bought a further over two million of its common shares at $0.075 per share, taking the total stake to 12.1%. Shaw Communications edged up 0.51 despite reporting lower second quarter net income of $0.32 per share, compared to $0.36 in the year ago period. Analysts expected the company to post profit of $0.33 per share. Telecommunications stocks were under pressure, with Telus Corp shedding 0.81%. UBS trimmed its rating on the stock to a "Neutral" from "Buy" on valuations. Convenience stores operator Alimentation Couche-Tard was down 1.04%. The company's unsolicited offer to acquire Casey's General Stores Inc. for $36.00 per share in cash was turned down. In economic news, Statistics Canada said Canadian unemployment edged up by 18,000 in March, continuing an upward trend that began in July 2009. Economists were predicting the economy would add 25,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2%. The Canadian dollar slumped 0.26 cents to 99.45 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but four of the 14 TSX subgroups were up by midday. Metals and mining were up 2%, while gold was ahead 1.8% and materials gained 1.7%. The four laggards were weighed down by consumer staples, sliding 0.7%, telecoms, down 0.2% and industrials, off 0.02%. The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 21.51 points to 1,674.44, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 1.10 points to 777.74. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities inched higher Friday, with the Dow moving closer to 11,000 again, as worries about Greece's debt problems eased and investors continued to bet that the economic recovery is chugging along. The Dow Jones industrial average prospered 49 points by noon to 10,976.80 The S&P 500 picked up 5.19 points to 1,191.63. The Nasdaq gained 9.09 points to 2,445.90. Stocks gained Thursday as upbeat sales reports from the nation's retailers helped provide optimism about the economic outlook, taking the edge off worries about Greece and other euro zone debt issues. Greece's borrowing costs eased a bit after hitting a record high Thursday on worries about its ballooning deficit. Talk of a bailout as soon as this weekend circulated Friday. On the downside, ratings agency Fitch cut its outlook on Greece's debt. Worries that Greece's default could usher in a bigger euro zone debt crisis have popped up repeatedly this year. But the concerns have been tempered in recent weeks as investors have focused on signs that the economic recovery is picking up strength, despite ongoing weakness in the labour and housing markets. Economically speaking, U.S. retail sales in March rose 9% over the same month a year ago, the International Council of Shopping Centers said Thursday based on an index of 31 retailers. Wholesale inventories rose 0.6% in February after climbing 0.1% in January, the Census Bureau reported Friday. Inventories were expected to rise 0.4% according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. U.S. Treasurys fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.91% from Thursday's 3.90%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil slid 62 cents to $84.77 U.S. Gold prices climbed $10 to $1,163 U.S. an ounce.