Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre were broadly lower on Friday as metals and mining stocks staged a retreat, while banks also took a hit.
The S&P/TSX composite index was off its lows of the morning, but still negative 41.47 points to greet noon at 15,345.30.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.31 cents to 81.74 cents U.S.
Crude prices came under pressure from signs that supply is still growing, but the benchmark index's energy group approached noon treading water.
In the group, Suncor Energy fell 0.4% to $39.92, and Enbridge declined 0.5% to $64.08.
The biggest weights on the index included Royal Bank of Canada, which fell 0.8% to $80.57, and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which declined 0.7% to $55.63.
The most influential gainers included Barrick Gold, which rose 1.8% to $15.66, and Goldcorp , which advanced 0.8% to $24.34.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index gained 0.4% for March, after a 0.2% hike in February.
Retail trade rose 1.7% in February to $42.2 billion, as gains were widespread as all 11 retail sub-sectors reported higher sales.
Moreover, the agency said, foreign investment in Canadian securities strengthened to $9.3 billion in February, mostly foreign purchases of federal government bonds.
Meanwhile, investors here resumed their investment in foreign securities by adding $9.4 billion to their holdings, mainly U.S. instruments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was up 0.42 points to 706.01
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower midday, as metals and mining dumped 1.6%, consumer staples jettisoned 1.3%, and information technology skidded 1.2%.
The three gainers were gold, up 0.8%, materials, ahead 0.2%, and energy, up only slightly.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Friday, following a global decline in equities on renewed Greece concerns and new Chinese trading regulations, amid U.S. inflation and consumer data.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 241.54 points, or 1.3%, to 17,864.23, with General Electric the only gainer and American Express and 3M among the greatest decliners.
The S&P 500 index dropped 20.66 points to 2,084.33, with information technology leading all 10 sectors lower.
The NASDAQ index plummeted 69.63 points to 4,938.16. The major averages had their worst day since March 25.
General Electric reported adjusted quarter profit of 31 cents U.S. per share, one cent above estimates. Revenue was below forecasts, due in part to a $950-million U.S. negative impact from currency effects.
Honeywell beat estimates by two cents with quarterly profit of $1.41 U.S. per share, though revenue fell slightly below analyst forecasts.
The company gave a cautious sales outlook, but said expanding profit margins should boost the bottom line.
Futures held lower but above morning lows after the consumer price index showed an increase of 0.2% in March, below expectations of 0.3%.
However, the figure marked the second-straight month of gains and matched February's 0.2% gain. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, came in slightly above expectations at 0.2%, the same level as in February.
Major European stock indices were down about 1% or more, following a selloff in Chinese futures over news of coming government regulation to expand short-selling and limit over-the-counter margin trading.
Focus for European markets has been on Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis' visit to meet International Monetary Fund officials, as investors become increasingly nervous about the funding crisis in Greece.
Trading was affected in Europe and Asia Friday morning by an outage on Bloomberg's trading terminal, resulting in a treasury auction in the U.K. being postponed. By 11 a.m. ET, the company said that service was fully restored.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained some ground, lowering yields to 1.88% from Thursday’s 1.89%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased two cents to $56.69 U.S.
Gold prices moved up $5.80 to $1,203.80 U.S.
