Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday, as the materials sector was hurt by a dip in gold prices and the energy group tracked lower oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained in the red 9.89 points to roll into noon hour at 16,319.07
The Canadian dollar docked half a cent to 75.8 cents U.S.
Among stocks, Canada Goose Holdings, which jumped $17.73, or 29.6%, to $77.72, was the largest percentage gainer on the TSX. The Luxury apparel maker reported a surprise quarterly profit on Friday.
Gold issues were down, though, Barrick Gold declining 47 cents, or 2.7%, to $16.78, and Goldcorp slid 43 cents, or 2.3%, to $18.31.
Teck Resources fell $2.27, or 6.1%, the most on the TSX, to $35.16, while the second biggest decliner was MEG Energy, down 35 cents, or 3.7%, to $9.25.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier, down a cent to $4.88, Toronto-Dominion Bank, off 36 cents to $75.84, and Manulife Financial, sliding four cents to $24.83.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $56.2 billion in April, following two consecutive monthly increases. Sales in the petroleum and coal products and transportation equipment industries accounted for much of the decrease in April. Excluding these two industries, manufacturing sales rose 0.4%.
The agency also stated that foreign investment in Canadian securities totalled $9.1 billion in April, up from $6.4 billion in March. At the same time, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $652 million, on large sales of US shares.
Resales of Canadian homes fell 0.1% in May from April to the lowest level in more than five years, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Friday.
CREA also said actual sales, not seasonally adjusted, fell 16.2% from a year earlier, while the group’s Home Price Index was up 1% from May 2017.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 6.55 points to 754.71
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, though, as consumer discretionary stocks vaulted 1.4%, utilities took on 1.1%, and health-care bettered itself by 0.7%.
The three laggards were gold and materials, each down 1.4%, and energy, off 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks hurtled lower on Friday after the Trump administration said it will impose a 25% charge on up to $50 billion in Chinese goods, raising fears of a trade war looming between the U.S. and China.
The Dow Jones Industrials swooned 241.25 points, or nearly 1%, to 24,934.06, with Caterpillar and Boeing as the worst-performing stocks in the index. Boeing and Caterpillar are big exporters, so rising trade tensions put pressure on their respective stocks.
The S&P 500 lost 13.54 points to 2,768.89, as energy and materials lagged
The NASDAQ retreated 34.92 points to 7,726.12
In a statement Friday, President Donald Trump said the measures would affect Chinese goods "that contain industrially significant technologies," without specifying those products. He added that the action comes "in light of China's theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices."
Trump also said the U.S. would impose more tariffs on Chinese goods if China retaliates with duties of its own on American products.
China promptly responded to the Trump administration's announcement, with the Chinese Commerce Ministry saying it will implement tariffs on the same scale as the U.S.
Shares of Boeing and Caterpillar both dropped more than 2% following the news.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were higher, lowering yields to 2.92% from Thursday’s 2.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices stumbled $2.08 to $64.81 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $26.10 at $1,282.20 U.S. an ounce.
