Sliding oil and mining stocks helped drive the Toronto stock market lower Friday afternoon.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was off 69.15 points to end the week at 10,644.96.
The index was up, however, on the week by about 80 points, its fourth straight weekly gain as a powerful spring rally into its fourth month continues to chug along on hopes for an economic recovery by the end of the year.
Even so, investor sentiment was weighed down this week by rising U.S. Treasury yields that have raised worries about higher interest rates and inflation.
Friday’s dip came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forecast that demand for its crude this year would average 28.6 million barrels a day - 2.2 million barrels less than in 2008.
EnCana Corp. fell $1.03 to $61.96.
BlackWatch Energy Services Corp. shares jumped 41 cents, or 77%, to 94 cents after the oilfield services company announced a recapitalization plan and named a new management team on Thursday.
The Toronto market also came under pressure from declines in the high-flying base metals sector, which had rocketed up 150% since early March. It was off Friday as the July copper contract in New York shed seven cents to $2.37 U.S. a pound with Teck Resources Ltd. down 31 cents to $20.38.
The gold sector faded as Goldcorp Inc. dropped 96 cents to $39.02.
Centerra Gold Inc. shares faded 82 cents or 11.2% to $6.48 after it said its operating licence for the Boroo Mine in Mongolia has been suspended for up to three months after a report from a government inspection agency that visited the mine.
Uranium One Inc. shares ran up 15 cents to $2.83 after it said its joint venture with Kazatomprom will be honoured, according to a statement by the Kazakh state uranium giant whose former president is target of a government probe on allegations of embezzlement.
Drug maker Patheon Inc. reported today a profit of $500,000 U.S., reversing a year-ago loss of $8 million U.S. as its restructuring and cost-cutting program continued. Its shares dipped 13 cents to $2.67.
The Canadian dollar was down 1.26 cents to 89.50 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, nine were in negative territory. Gold weighed on the laggards, losing 1.9%, materials stocks and metals fading 1.5%, metals and mining off 1.3%.
The four gainers were led by real-estate stocks, up 1.5%, utilities, up 1.4%, and industrials, advancing 1.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange had regained 6.49 points to 1,154.81 while the Nasdaq Canada Index dipped 21.98 points to end the week at 795.09
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks cut losses Friday afternoon, thanks to a late-day surge in bank, consumer and tech shares that gave the Dow another shot at ending in positive territory for the year.
Indeed, the Dow Jones Industrials average finished 28.34 points in the black to 8,799.26 - up about 35 points on the week - while the S&P 500 index improved 1.32 points, to 946.21 - a six-point advance on the week. The Nasdaq composite was down 3.57 points on the day, but nine points better on the week, at 1,858.80.
The Dow finished in the black for the day, week and year to date.
Stocks slumped through most of the session as weakness in energy and gold prices dragged on oil and metal stocks. But the selling eased up later in the session, and was offset by strength in select other sectors.
A server issue at the New York Stock Exchange briefly interrupted the flow of orders for about 200 stocks in the late morning, including Dow components General Electric, Merck and Exxon Mobil, the NYSE said. The stocks continued to trade electronically and outside the NYSE, but were temporarily halted on the exchange. Trading resumed at 12:10 p.m. ET.
Bank of America advanced 5.8% after Stifel Nicolaus & Co. became the fifth brokerage this week to make positive comments about the lender.
BlackRock is buying BGI, the investment unit of British bank Barclays, in a $13.5-billion U.S. cash-and-stock-deal that will create the world's largest money manager. BlackRock shares fell 5% and Barclays fell 3%.
Erroneous reports regarding the outcome of the Iranian presidential race caused the turnaround, said some experts, who added that reports that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was unseated by challenger Mir Hossein Moussavi caused markets to recover.
However, the results of the election are not yet clear, with both men claiming victory.
Import prices rose 1.3% in May, the largest monthly increase since July 2008, reported the government, which revised the April increase to 1.1%. The May increase was heavily influenced by an 8.3% jump in petroleum prices.
The price of exports increased 0.6% in May, compared to a 0.4% increase in April, the government said.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index edged up 0.3 points to a nine-month high of 69.0, slightly below expectations.
On Friday, Treasury prices rallied, lowering the corresponding yields. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 3.77% from 3.85% Thursday. The yield touched 4% during Wednesday's session for the first time since last October.
U.S. light crude oil for July delivery settled down 64 cents to $72.04 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for August delivery fell $21.30 to $940.70 U.S. an ounce.
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