Canada's main stock index treaded water on Friday, as gains in shares of energy companies were countered by losses in materials shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite faded 76.31 points to greet noon at 16,328.22
The Canadian dollar added 0.01 cents to 75.58 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Altus Group, which jumped 11.6% after its quarterly results beat analysts' estimates.
Sleep Country followed closely behind with an 11% rise after reporting quarterly results.
CCL Industries Inc's class B shares tumbled 9%, the most on the TSX, after its second-quarter revenue missed estimates.
The second-biggest decliner was Stantec Inc, down 7.5%, after multiple brokerages lowered their price target on the stock.
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 0.82 points to 595.51
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups remained negative by early afternoon, as health-care ailed 2.6%, consumer discretionary stocks wallowed 1.4%, and materials sank 1.2%
The two gainers were energy, up 0.7%, and information technology, inching ahead 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded lower on Friday amid renewed trade war fears as Wall Street concluded a wild week.
The Dow Jones Industrials subtracted 117.6 points to 26,260.59
The S&P 500 stepped back 21.88 points to 2,916.21
The NASDAQ faltered 83.32 points, or 1%, to 7.955.84
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both down 1% for the week through late-morning Friday. The Dow was down 1.4%.
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 3% lower while Advanced Micro Devices slipped 1.2%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell once more, lifting yields to 1.72% from Thursday’s 1.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices gained $1.99 to $54.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $1.80 to $1,511.30 U.S. an ounce.
