Canada's main stock index slid on Friday, as shares of precious metal miners were weighed down by lower gold prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite faded 29.75 points to begin the week’s final session at 16,374.78
The Canadian dollar added 0.09 cents to 75.66 cents U.S.
The federal government announced final regulations to reduce patented drug prices it said would save Canadians $13.2 billion over a decade, overriding heavy opposition from pharmaceutical companies.
A coalition of 32 environmental and indigenous groups on Thursday urged insurers to stop underwriting the Trans Mountain pipeline to pressure Canada to cancel its plan to expand the project, which carries crude from Alberta's oil sands to British Columbia's Pacific coast.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on AltaGas Canada to $25.00 from $20.00. AltaGas gained six cents to $20.12.
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Cronos Group to hold from sell. Cronos docked 17 cents to $18.23
RBC raised the rating on KP Tissue to outperform from sector perform. KP shares
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said the economy lost 24,200 jobs last month and its unemployment rate moved up 0.2 percentage points to 5.7%.
The agency also said the value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities declined 3.7% to $8.0 billion in June, largely due to a decrease in the value of multi-family and institutional permits.
Declines were reported in six provinces, with over one-third of the national decrease in Alberta.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the seasonally-adjusted annual rates of housing starts in Canada dropped 9.6% from a month earlier to 222,013 units in July, beating market expectations of 203,500.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 0.23 points to 596.10
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups stumbled out of the gate, as consumer discretionary stocks lost 1.2%, materials were down 1%, and health-care issues ducked 0.8%.
The four gainers were led by energy, ahead 0.7%, real-estate and communications subgroups inching up 0.1% each.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded lower on Friday amid renewed trade war fears as Wall Street concluded a wild week.
The Dow Jones Industrials subtracted 150.44 points to 26,227.75
The S&P 500 stepped back 22.3 points to 2,915.79.
The NASDAQ faltered 78.43 points, or 1%, to 7.960.72
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and NASDAQ gained 0.4%, for the week through Thursday’s close. The Dow was down 0.4%.
Media reports circulated overnight that the U.S. is holding off on giving permission to U.S. companies to use Huawei products.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday the U.S. will not do business with Huawei, adding that the U.S. is not ready to strike a trade deal with China.
Chip stocks fell on the news. Micron Technology and Skyworks Solutions both traded more than 2% lower while Advanced Micro Devices slipped 1.9%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained slightly, dropping yields to 1.70% from Thursday’s 1.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices gained $1.85 to $54.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up a dollar to $1,510.50 U.S. an ounce.
