Canada's main stock market closes higher

Canada's main stock market ended higher Friday as the gold sector advanced with some momentum, although investors were still amid the speculations about the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve's taper of its bond purchases. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 11. 31 points to 13,125.70 points, with mixed performances of the major components of the index. The gold sector was a bit stronger as the gold price got a rebound Friday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled to take place next week. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at 1,237.70 U.S. dollars an ounce at the close, up 12.80 U. S. dollars or nearly one percent from Thursday. Shares of Barrick Gold Corporation, the world's biggest gold producer, were up 1.6 percent to 17.76 Canadian dollars (about 16. 70 U.S. dollars) apiece. The telecom shares were weak after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the country's telecom regulator, announced Thursday that it has enhanced its investigation into whether the Big Three wireless companies are charging excessive rates to smaller competitors for the use of their networks. The share prices of the big three companies, Rogers, Bell and Telus, were down, with Rogers Communications Inc. losing 1.3 percent to 47.02 Canadian dollars and Telus Corporation decreasing 0.85 percent to 36.10 Canadian dollars. Health care sector was the biggest gainer Friday. The Montreal- based professional pharmaceutical products maker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., was up 0.19 percent to 113.07 Canadian dollars. However, Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation, the licensor of full- service retail drug stores, was down 0.36 percent to 57.48 Canadian dollars. The mining sector was down 0.19 percent, while the industrial sector went down 0.20 percent, In currency front, the Canadian currency rate against U.S. dollar moved higher when the market is waiting for the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week. The Canadian dollar was up to 0.9448 U.S. dollar Friday, compared with 0.9400 U.S. dollar in Thursday's trading.