Gold boosts TSX, BlackBerry falls 26 %

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

People walk in Toronto's financial district in Tsoronto, on Oct. 29, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The Toronto stock market moved sharply higher Friday, as gains in the gold sector were more than enough to offset a 26 per cent decline in BlackBerry stock after the smartphone maker surprised traders with a quarterly loss and disappointing revenue.

The S&P/TSX composite index ran up 123.33 points to 12,129.11.

BlackBerry shares (TSX:BB) tumbled $3.97 to $11.08 after saying that it lost US$84 million in the first quarter when the smartphone maker launched its latest Z10 touchscreen model.

On an adjusted basis, BlackBerry had a loss of $67 million or 13 cents per share. Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of six cents per share.

Besides the unexpected loss and disappointing revenue, analysts were uphappy with a lack of specific sales figures for BlackBerry's new smartphones.

"They're still not telling people how well they're doing," said Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investment.

"We had seen a lot of negativity on BlackBerry before they initially announced the new product and the product itself is actually pretty good. (But) I think people are nervous because obviously BlackBerry has not done well on the execution side and so now they’re back to that stage of, 'I don't trust them.'"

The Canadian dollar fell 0.39 of a cent to 95.08 cents US even as Statistics Canada reported that gross domestic product grew by 0.1 per cent, which was in line with expectations.

U.S. indexes largely turned lower late in the session after three days of strong gains that reflected an atmosphere of calm that seemed to have settled on markets during this week.

The Dow Jones industrials moved 114.89 points lower to 14,909.6, the Nasdaq gained 1.39 points to 3,403.25 and the S&P 500 index ticked 6.92 points lower to 1,606.28.