The Toronto stock market was slightly lower Friday as investors took in encouraging manufacturing data from China and the United States.
The S&P/TSX composite index gave back 23.80 points to close the day and week at 13,337.46, pressured by continued weakness in the gold sector as prices hit a two-week low and Barrick Gold announced a huge stock offering.
The Canadian dollar was flat at to 95.91 cents U.S.
The gold sector fell almost 4% while Goldcorp Inc. fell $1.06 to $25.50.
Barrick Gold fell $1.56, or 7.7%, to $18.72 after it unveiled plans to raise roughly $3 billion to repay debt by issuing 163.5 million shares at $18.35 per share.
Barrick also announced Thursday that it was suspending work on its troubled Pascua-Lama project as it moved to rein in costs at the mine under construction high in the Andes mountains.
Base metal stocks were also weak, down 1.35%. December copper had received an earlier boost from the Chinese data but later was unchanged at $3.30 U.S. a pound.
The sector was weighed down in particular by Taseko Mines. Its stock fell 25 cents, or 9.8%, to $2.31 after a new environmental study into its billion-dollar New Prosperity mine proposal in British Columbia said it would pose "several significant adverse environmental effects."
The energy sector was 0.85% lower as Suncor Energy fell $1.09 to $36.80.
Industrial stocks were positive with Canadian National Railway shares up $1.31 to $115.86 after earlier hitting a 52-week high of $116.98. CN announced that it has reached tentative agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents 3,000 workers.
In other corporate developments, SNC-Lavalin shares were ahead 71 cents to $44.52 as the engineering giant swung to a $72.7-million loss in the third-quarter.
SNC has warned that its net income for the full year would drop dramatically due to money-losing legacy contracts, weak mining markets and a European restructuring charge
On the economic beat, the October RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index increased sharply rising to 55.6 from 54.2 in September.
Any reading for the PMI above 50 indicates improving business conditions in the manufacturing sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 3.53 points to 955.33
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks finished the week with gains on Friday, and investors are cautiously optimistic that this year's rally still has legs.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed the day higher by 69.80 points, to end the week at 15,615.50
The S&P 500 index gained 5.10 points to 1,761.64. The NASDAQ progressed 2.34 points to 3,922.04
Stocks are coming off a strong month. The S&P 500 gained 5% in October. Despite modest losses on Thursday, the Dow and S&P 500 are both hovering near record highs.
If history is any guide, the good times should keep on rolling. The S&P 500 has gained in November more than 60% of the time over the past 30 years, according to Schaeffer's Investment Research.
There was only one major economic report released Friday. But the news was good. The manufacturing sector continued to expand in October. The ISM index rose to 56.4, up from 56.2 in September and topping forecasts.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury swooned, raising yields to 2.62% from Thursday’s 2.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.70 to $94.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faltered $8.80 to $1,314.80 U.S. an ounce.
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