Stocks on both sides of the border were fairly mild at the finish Friday, as investors largely shrugged off the release of jobs figures in both countries.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 24.99 points to close the day and the week at 15,052.52. The index was on track for a flat performance for the week, after hitting a near 18-month high on Thursday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.19 cents at 75.27 cents U.S.
Gold stocks were the ones that fared best Friday, with Iamgold Corporation surging 21 cents, or 4.3%, to $5.13, while Barrick Gold rocketed 78 cents, or 3.9%, to $20.80.
Among materials, Teck Resources zoomed $1.10, or 3.4%, to $33.66. BlackPearl Resources took on four cents, or 2.2%, to $1.89.
Anong another gainer, health-care, Valeant Pharmaceuticals gained 18 cents to $20.55, while Concordia International gathered 11 cents, or 3.3%, to $3.44.
Industrials suffered the worst losses Friday, as Canadian National Railway headed south 64 cents to $89.60, while Canadian Pacific dumped $6.11, or 3%, to $200.76.
Among tech issues, Constellation Software slumped $9.10, or 1.5%, to $606.39.
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 9.83 points to 749.37
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive on the day, as gold soared 3%, materials strengthened 1.8%, and health-care was haler by 1.2%.
The five laggards were weighed most by industrials, down 0.9%, information technology, off 0.7%, and utilities, skidding 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks south of the border closed mostly flat on Friday, with financials falling around 1%, as investors braced themselves for a key constitutional referendum in Italy while digesting a stronger-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 21.3 points to 19,170.63, with Goldman Sachs leading decliners and United Technologies the leader among those stocks gathering steam.
The S&P 500 squeezed higher 0.89 points to 2,191.97, with financials leading five sectors lower and real-estate the biggest riser.
The NASDAQ composite index finished positive 4.55 points to 5,255.65
The S&P and NASDAQ snapped three-week winning streaks as a massive post-election rally slowed down. The Dow, however, recorded slight weekly gains.
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 2.39% from Thursday’s 2.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 57 cents to $51.63 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices tacked on eight dollars to $1,177.40 U.S. an ounce.
