Canada's main stock index slipped in morning trade on Thursday as its largest gold miners weighed along with some big banks and energy stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 32.88 points to move into noon hour at 15,615.52
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.13 at 75.35 cents U.S.
Markets in North America are closed Friday for Good Friday.
The most influential weights on the index included Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold miner, which fell 40 cents, or 1.7%, to $26.45 as prices for the precious metal edged off a five-month high.
Analysts say Barrick must take steps to safeguard investor confidence by ensuring there are no more operating mishaps at its mines after a third incident in 18 months at its big Argentina mine.
Energy stocks struggled by noon, as Suncor Energy slid 35 cents to $41.00, while Imperial Oil fell 65 cents, or 1.6%, to $40.31.
In health-care, Canopy Growth faded 26 cents, or 2.5%, to $10.05, while Aphria Inc. moved lower 45 cents, or 5.7%, to $7.41.
Among financials, Royal Bank of Canada pulled back 58 cents, or 0.6%, to $95.48 and Bank of Nova Scotia fell 46 cents, or 0.6%, to $76.32.
Telecoms provided one of the few bright spots, as BCE Inc. took on nine cents to $60.96.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada’s new housing price rose 0.4% in February over the previous month. The agency said Ontario accounted for most of the gain, as new house prices increased in all 10 of its surveyed metropolitan areas.
What’s more, manufacturing in this country decreased during the same month, though not by as much as some analysts had feared.
The agency said manufacturing sales edged down 0.2% in February to $53.6 billion, following three consecutive monthly increases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 1.61 points to 831.38
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers, with telecoms improving 0.3%, while information technology and industrials each ahead 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy, sputtering 0.7%, health-care, ailing 0.6%, and financials, sliding 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mixed on Thursday as investors kept on buying safer assets, while big banks kicked off the earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 36.39 points to move into noon hour at 20,555.47, with Chevron taking the biggest knocks
The S&P 500 slid 3.57 points to 2,341.36, with information technology outperforming and energy lagging.
The NASDAQ Composite topped breakeven by only 0.21 points to 5,850.37. The three major U.S. indexes, meanwhile, were on pace to end the week slightly lower.
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all reported quarterly results on Thursday. JPMorgan easily topped expectations, while Citigroup also posted better-than-expected results. Wells Fargo posted mixed results.
In economic news, jobless claims came in at 234,000, below expectations, while March Producer Price Index declined 0.1%. Consumer sentiment came in at 98, beating expectations.
Investors grew nervous this week as overseas tensions between the U.S. and Russia heated up as State Secretary Rex Tillerson flew to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Also, Wall Street grew jittery as it gauged where the Trump administration's priorities were. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told media outlets he wanted to repeal and replace Obamacare before moving on to tax reform.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal later on Wednesday he thought the dollar was getting "too strong." The comment sent the dollar index to its lowest level of the month against a basket of currencies
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were higher, thus lowering yields to 2.25% from Wednesday’s 2.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back 13 cents at $52.98 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $9.30 at $1,287.40 U.S. an ounce.
