(Adds details throughout on stocks and sectors, updates prices)
* TSX up 55.49 points, or 0.36 percent, at 15,473.65
* Eight of the TSX’s 10 main groups rise
TORONTO, Jan 13 Canada’s main stock index rose on Friday, led by the country’s heavyweight banks as U.S. fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off and bond yields rose.
Some of the most influential movers on the index were banks, with Toronto-Dominion Bank rising 0.7 percent to C$ 67.56 and Royal Bank of Canada climbing 0.8 percent to C$ 94.51.
Gains for Canadian bank stocks came as some major U.S. banks reported quarterly profits that beat expectations and bond yields rose after data showed U.S. retail sales rose solidly in December.
Higher bond yields increase net interest margins of banks and reduce the value of insurance companies’ liabilities.
Manulife Financial Corp rose 1.6 percent to C$ 24.81, while the overall financials group gained 0.7 percent.
At 10:32 a.m. ET (1532 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 55.49 points, or 0.36 percent, to 15,473.65.
Still, it is on track to fall 0.1 percent for the week after reaching last week its highest since September 2014 at 15,621.40, a near all-time high.
Consumer staples rose 0.6 percent, while the materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, rose 0.4 percent even as some gold miners lost ground as gold prices fell.
Barrick Gold Corp declined 0.9 percent to C$ 21.96, while gold futures fell 0.9 percent to $ 1,188.1 an ounce.
Eight of the index’s 10 main groups were higher, with the energy group little changed as oil fell.
U.S. crude prices were down 0.7 percent at $ 52.62 a barrel. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Bill Trott)
