Canadian Stocks Recover From Early Slump To Close Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks extended the sharp pullback seen during Thursday's session in early trading on Friday but showed a significant rebound as the day progressed.

After plunging by as much as 1.5 percent in early trading, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed well off its lowest and into positive territory before eventually closing up 72.82 points or 0.2 percent at 30,326.46.

With the turnaround on the day combined with the strong upward move seen before Thursday's sell-off, the index jumped by 1.4 percent.

The turnaround on Bay Street came as technology stocks showed a significant rebound, with the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index climbing by 1.3 percent after tumbling as much as 2.6 percent.

Energy stocks helped lead the recovery, driving the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index up by 2.2 percent as the price of crude oil spiked on news of a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Two industry sources told Reuters the attack led the port to pause oil exports and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft to suspend crude supplies to the outlet, leading to concerns about Russian supply.

Consumer staples stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, while substantial weakness was visible among healthcare stocks.

In economic news, Statistics Canada released a report showing Canadian manufacturing sales surged by 3.3 percent in September, driven by higher sales of transportation equipment and petroleum and coal products.