Equities in Canada’s biggest market pulled away from record highs reached this week, falling for the second day in a row on Friday as bank, industrial and mining stocks helped lead the market's retreat.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 28.27 points to greet noon 15,986.72
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.71 cents to 78.27 cents U.S.
The financials group slipped, with almost all of Canada's top banks losing modest ground. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd fell 3% to $675.59 after third-quarter profit fell short of analysts' forecasts.
Genworth MI Canada rose 4.9% to $42.49 after reporting a better-than-expected third-quarter profit offset some of the decline.
Industrials fell, with Canadian National Railway's 0.7% slip to $102.21 the most influential drag on the index. Canadian Pacific Railway also weighed, falling 0.7% to $222.87.
Bombardier climbed 2.7% to $3.03 after several analysts raised their target prices. Shares touched as high as $3.11, the aircraft maker's best level since January 2015.
The materials group, home to precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost ground, as Teck Resources declined 1.9% to $26.37. Western Forest Products slumped 3% to $2.61 after reporting a weaker-than-expected third quarter.
The energy group climbed, as Parkland Fuel jumped 5.1% to $26.64 after reporting third-quarter results, while Crew Energy fumbled 3.1% to $4.36, following target price cuts by analysts after the company reported results.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported the economy created 35,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.3%.
The agency said employment gains in the month were driven by full-time work (which improved 89,000), while 53,000 fewer people worked part-time
Meanwhile, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world totaled $3.2 billion in September, essentially unchanged from the previous month.
Exports were down 0.3% on lower passenger car and light truck exports, while imports decreased 0.3% on lower prices.
The U.S. Commerce Department, accusing Canada of unfairly subsidizing and dumping softwood lumber in the United States, on Thursday set final duties on imports and Canada said it would appeal the decision, which comes during tense NAFTA trade talks.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 2.99 points to 790.26
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups remained lower by noon hour, with gold down 1.5%, and materials slumping 1.2%, and consumer staples sliding 0.8%
The four gainers were led by health-care, better by 1.2%, while energy and utilities each improved 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ composite rose on Friday to trade near a record on the back of a sharp rally in Apple shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average recovered 23.89 points on top of Thursday’s record high to 23,540.15, with Apple leading advancers.
The S&P 500 moved higher 4.28 points to 2,584.13, with utilities leading advancers. Newell Brands rose 5.1% and was among the best-performing stocks in the index; it rebounded from sharp losses in the previous session.
The NASDAQ regained 28.39 points to 6,721.92. Apple shares rose more than 2% after the tech giant reported quarterly earnings that blew expectations out of the water. The company also issued strong guidance for the current quarter. Apple's market cap came within $6 billion of reaching $900 billion.
Friday was also a big day for Wall Street on the data front. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs last month. Economists expected a gain of 310,000 jobs. The report also showed average hourly earnings remained flat for October.
Other data set for release Friday include factory orders and the non-manufacturing Institute for Supply Management report on business
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.35%.
Oil prices notched up 18 cents a barrel to $54.64 U.S.
Gold prices lost $9.30 an ounce to $1,268.80 U.S.
