Stocks found their way into the green by midday Friday, as miners rose with gold and financial stocks pulled back at the end of a busy week of earnings.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 62 points to greet noon at 15,089.53. The index is on track for a flat performance for the week, after hitting a near 18-month high on Thursday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.12 cents at 75.2 cents U.S.
Energy stocks also moved lower after notching sharp gains earlier in the week as a deal by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to curtail production sent crude prices soaring, with Suncor Energy down 0.8% at $42.625.
The financials group slipped, with Manulife Financial retreating 1.5% to $23.10. It has jumped sharply since early November on rising bond yields.
National Bank of Canada added 0.3% to $50.98 after the country's sixth-biggest lender posted a better-than-expected adjusted profit for the fourth quarter.
The most influential gainers on the index included Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold producer, which rose 3.5% to $20.72, and diversified miner Teck Resources, which added 2.3%, to $33.26.
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd fell 2.5% to $4.34. The Canadian copper miner said it had suspended shipments from its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia across the Chinese border, a day after the imposition of new fees on commodity shipments between the two countries.
Bombardier Inc rose 1.9% to $1.865. The plane maker said it has won orders for three aircraft from Tanzania.
Several consumer staples names also gained, with convenience store operator Alimentation Couche Tard up 1.6% to $61.16 and supermarket chain Loblaw Cos adding 1% to $69.96.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that the economy created 11,000 jobs in November. But, with fewer people searching for work, the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 6.8%.
Experts were looking for a drop of 20,000 jobs last month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange galloped 7.33 points to 746.87
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive by noon hour, as gold advanced 3.5%, materials improved 2.1%, and health-care moved higher 2%.
The three laggards were weighed most by information technology and industrials, both off 0.4%, and utilities, which slid 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mixed on Friday as investors digested a stronger-than-expected jobs report while bracing themselves for a key constitutional referendum in Italy.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 19.52 points to 19,172.41, with Goldman Sachs leading decliners and United Technologies the top advancer.
The S&P 500 climbed 2.67 points to 2,193.75, with real-estate leading nine sectors higher and financials lagging.
The NASDAQ composite index gained 11.54 points to 5,262.64, as tech stocks rebounded
Also on investors' radars was the Italian referendum, scheduled for Sunday. With this referendum, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wants to change the constitution so that the executive branch needs approval only from parliament's lower house in order to pass laws.
On the economic beat, the U.S. added 178,000 jobs last month, according to figures released by the U.S. Labor Department, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.6%. Economists expected a gain of 175,000 with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.9%. Wages, however, slumped to 2.5%.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note jumped, lowering yields to 2.38% from Thursday’s 2.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 26 cents to $51.32 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices tacked on $8.50 to $1,177.90 U.S. an ounce.
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