Stocks stumbled in Toronto in Friday’s first hour, as drug and railway companies led the declines.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was negative 19.93 points to open Friday at 15,558.83
The Canadian dollar regained 0.22 cents at 75.2 cents U.S.
Health-care issues took a pounding soon after the opening bell, as Canopy Growth Corporation staggered 24 cents, or 2.3%, to $10.22, and shares for Concordia International were static at $2.16.
BlackBerry Ltd reported a smaller quarterly loss as operating costs nearly halved. The company's net loss narrowed to $47 million, or 10 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from $238 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.
Shares in the company once known as Research In Motion soared $1.13, or 12.2%, to $10.40.
Instinet cut the target price on Cenovus Energy to $18.00 from $20.00. Cenovus shares took on 13 cents to $15.18.
CIBC raised the target price on Dollarama Inc. to $125.00 from $111.00. Dollarama shares sank $2.09, or 1.9%, to $108.79.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s GDP grew 0.6% in January on the strength of widespread growth across both goods- and service-producing industries.
The agency also said that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees registered at $967.00 in January, little changed from December and up 1.8% from January 2016.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange surged 1.59 points to 809.40
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were down to begin the day, as health-care tailed off 1.6%, while industrials and materials each faded 0.5%
The five gainers were helmed by information technology, galloping 0.8%, while energy and real-estate each advanced 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mixed on Friday — the last day of the first quarter — as investors took in a slew of economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials deleted 25.79 points to 20,702.70, with Goldman Sachs bruised the worst.
The S&P 500 edged forward 0.35 points to 2,368.41, with financials lagging and utilities outperforming
The NASDAQ Composite added only 1.9 points to 5,916.24
Entering Friday's session, the three major U.S. indexes were on track to post gains of at least 4.9%
The first-quarter rally slowed down this month, with the S&P and NASDAQ on track to post gains of 0.2% and 1.5%, respectively, while the Dow was poised for a gain of 0.4%.
Economically speaking, south of the line, personal income rose 0.4% in February, in line with expectations, while consumer spending rose 0.1%, below an expected increase of 0.2%
The PCE price index — an indicator of inflation — rose 2.1% year over year, while core PCE increased 1.8% from last year.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained, lowering yields to 2.41% from Thursday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices settled nine cents to $50.26 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices sank 90 cents at $1,247.10 U.S. an ounce.
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