Stocks in Toronto ended somewhat static on Friday, as gains among utilities were counteracted by health-care losses.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fought doggedly up 11.08 points to finish Friday and the week at 16,420.24
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.2 cents at 76.99 cents U.S.
Canadian markets are closed on Monday for Civic Holiday.
Among utilities, Hydro One gained 23 cents, or 1.2%, to $19.18, while Fortis Inc. picked up 21 cents to $42.95.
In real-estate, Brookfield Asset Management inched up a penny to $54.49.
Gold stocks also finished in the green as Barrick Gold added 21 cents, or 1.5%, to $14.45, while Goldcorp took on 22 cents, or 1.4%, to $16.05.
In the health-care sector, Aurora Cannabis ditched 21 cents, or 3.1%, to $6.53, while Canopy Growth fell 68 cents, or 2%, to $33.72.
Telecoms weakened, as BCE cast off a nickel to $54.12, while Rogers Communications dipped 12 cents to $66.58.
Advantage Oil & Gas, was down 20 cents, or 4.5%, to $4.29, after quarterly results. Canadian Natural Resources slumped 13 cents to $46.33.
On things macroeconomic, Statistics Canada revealed that this country's merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from $2.7 billion in May to $626 million in June, the smallest deficit since January 2017. Exports increased 4.1%, while imports edged down 0.2%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.12 points to 702.05
The 12 subgroups were evenly divided, as utilities gained 0.9%, real-estate was 0.7% more solid, and gold shone brighter by 0.6%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 0.7%, telecoms, off 0.4%, and energy, fading 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Blue chips gained Friday in New York, led by gains in Apple and IBM, as investors pored through newly proposed tariffs on U.S. goods by China and fresh jobs data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 136.42 points to 25,462.58, as Apple rose 0.3%, adding to its market cap of more than $1 trillion.
The tech giant reached the milestone for the first time on Thursday as investors cheered strong quarterly results released earlier this week. IBM also contributed to The Dow's gains, rising more than 3%.
The S&P 500 picked up 13.13 points to 2,840.35, as consumer staples outperformed.
The NASDAQ finished a rollercoaster day on the upside 9.33 points to 7,812.02
The three major indexes closed higher for the week, with the S&P 500 progressing 0.8% and NASDAQ rising 1%. The Dow rose just 0.04% this week. The S&P 500 and Dow also posted their fifth straight weekly gain, however.
The U.S. Labor Department said the stateside economy added 157,000 jobs last month. Economists expected a gain of 190,000.
The headline jobs growth number for July missed expectations, but past months' figures were revised substantially higher. Plus, wage growth met expectations. Jobs growth for June was revised up to 248,000 from 213,000, while wages grew by 2.7% in July on a year-over-year basis.
Investors take a close look at the jobs report every month as they look for clues regarding the pace of the Federal Reserve's future interest rate hikes. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged after a meeting this week, but market expectations for a rate hike in September are at 93.6%.
China said Friday it will slap tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods, with charges ranging from 5% to 25%. Many of the goods are agricultural-related, with others on various metals and chemicals.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, lowering yields to 2.95% from Thursday’s 2.99%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices docked 36 cents to $68.60 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.70 to $1,221.80 U.S. an ounce.
