Canadian stock advances amid sluggish economic data

Canada's main stock index rose for a third straight day on Friday as gains in shares of banks and miners helped overcome concerns about sluggish economic data.
Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 63.51 points, or 0.42 percent, to close at 15,094.25 points, with all the eight major sectors in the green. The Toronto stock market was slightly down for this week.
Weak economic data released by Statistics Canada on Friday showed that the Industrial Product Price Index was unexpectedly down 0.5 percent in May, mainly because of lower prices for energy and petroleum products, and that the Raw Materials Price Index declined 0.4 percent, mostly as a result of lower prices for animals and animal products.
Financials, which account for almost 34 percent of the TSX, rose 0.61 percent. Royal Bank of Canada, the country's biggest bank, gained 0.92 percent to 76.03 Canadian dollars, and another giant bank TD also added 0.96 percent to 54.82 Canadian dollars.
The mining sector, together with Info-tech sector, each advanced 0.88 percent, leading the gainers. Teck Resources Ltd. was up 0.72 percent to 23.87 Canadian dollars per share, and Sherritt International Corp. rose 1.17 percent to 4.32 Canadian dollars.
However, gold shares, a subsector of the mining sector, lost ground with big gold miners in the red. Barrick was down 0.05 percent to 19.22 Canadian dollars and Yamana Gold plunged 1.15 percent to 8.59 Canadian dollars.
On the currency front, the Canadian dollar touched a one-month high against the U.S. dollar, rising to 0.9380 U.S. dollar from 0. 9352 U.S. dollar on Thursday.