TORONTO - The Toronto stock market finished sharply higher week after another batch of U.S. financial earnings breezed past expectations.
New York markets closed slightly higher with investors mindful that the sector still faces headwinds, including loan losses arising from the worst recession since the Second World War.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved up 94.28 points to 9,437.65, up 2.7 per cent for this week. The Canadian dollar was down 0.37 of a cent to 82.3 cents U.S.
New York's Dow Jones industrial average inched up 5.9 points to 8,131.33 after Citigroup, widely considered the most troubled large American bank, and General Electric both beat quarterly earnings expectations.
The Nasdaq composite gained 2.63 points to 1,673.07 as the technology-heavy index got some lift from a better than expected earnings report from Google.
The Toronto energy sector was also supportive as the May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 35 cents to US$50.33 a barrel.
