Canadian stocks are basically flat in Friday afternoon trading, holding most of a recent rally.
Weakness in the gold sector has offset gains for health-care stocks.
Shortly before the closing bell, the S&P TSX Composite index was down 82.28 points to 11,445.95, still up nearly 200 points on the week.
On the downside, gold stocks and materials stocks both lost ground. Barrick Gold lost 2.7% to $39.57, Goldcorp declined 2.1% to $44.01 and Agnico-Eagle Mines was down 2.2% at $73.40.
Industrials were down, as Canadian Pacific Railway declined 2% to $52.45 after the stock was downgraded to "sell" from "hold" at Stifel Nicolaus & Company.
Healthcare stocks were up, as SXC Health Solutions Corp. surged 13.9% to $50.42 after the company announced the pricing of public offering of 4.50 million common shares at $41.50 per share. The offering was increased from the previously announced offering size of 3.50 million common shares.
In other corporate news, Imax dropped 5.6% to $9.56 after the stock was downgraded to neutral from buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Mitec Telecom was flat at 6.5 cents a share, after the company announced it agreed to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of a privately-held North American company, which provides wireless hardware components to major telecom equipment providers worldwide.
Brick Brewing Co. added a penny, or 1.3%, to 80 cents after the company said it received an amended statement of claim from Anheuser-Busch and Labatt Brewing Co. The revised claim removes claims that Brick has depreciated goodwill in the alleged trade-marks of the two companies, and also alters the claim of punitive damages.
Bombardier slipped 1.7% to $4.71 after the company said that it has received an order for 30 Dual-system FLEXITY Swift Tram-trains. These vehicles valued at about 129 million euros or $190 million U.S., will be delivered between August 2011 and September 2013. An option for up to another 45 vehicles has also been agreed.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Canadian wholesale sales were up 2.8% in July, compared to a revised 0.75% increase in June. Economists expected a much more modest climb of 0.9%.
The Canadian dollar tailed off 0.30 cents to 93.48 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were negative Friday. Gold suffered 1.4%, while industrials and materials were off 1.2% each.
The three gaining groups were health-care stocks, 3.7% stronger, information technology, ahead 1% and financials, up 0.7%.
The TSX Venture Exchange had gained 9.06 points to 1,281.80, while the Nasdaq Canada index prospered 7.76 points to 831.30.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks stretched to new one-year highs Friday afternoon as investors weighed economic optimism with jitters about the pace of the rally amid the "quadruple witching," a big quarterly options expiration.
The Dow Jones Industrials ended the day ahead 36.28 points at 9,820.20, a leap of 200 points on the week. The S&P 500 index added 12.85 points, to 1,068.34. The Nasdaq composite index gained 6.61 points to 2,132.86.
The blue-chip average closed at the highest point since Oct. 6, 2008, the S&P 500 at its highest point since Oct. 3, 2008, the Nasdaq, its highest close since Sept. 26, 2008. The major indexes have now risen in eight of the last 10 sessions.
Stocks ended just below unchanged Thursday after closing Wednesday's session at the highest point in nearly a year. Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained 58% and the Dow has gained 50%. Since bottoming at a six-year low, the Nasdaq has gained 68%.
Stocks have risen during those 6-1/2 months thanks to slowly improving economic news and extraordinary amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus.
But consumer sentiment is still well below what it should be and that's creating some hesitation for investors, said Kelli Hill, portfolio manager at Ashfield Capital Partners. "The issue now is what is it going to take for consumers to get back in and spend," she said.
Stocks have avoided the much-discussed September selloff, but Hill said it may have just been postponed until October, when the third-quarter profit reports start arriving. "Expectations for a broad earnings recovery could prove disappointing and that could create more volatility."
Procter & Gamble rallied 3% and was among the Dow's biggest gainers after Citigroup upgraded it to "buy" from "hold."
Other Dow gainers included components Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, Pfizer, Coca-Cola and AT&T.
Palm said late Thursday that smartphone sales surged 134% to 823,000 last quarter, thanks to sales of its Pre phone. However, the company still reported a steep quarterly loss, its 9th consecutive decline. Shares fell 3%.
Economically speaking, Michigan, Nevada and three other states posted unemployment rates above 12% in August, according to government data released Friday.
The report came one day after the Labor Department reported a surprise drop in weekly unemployment claims. Earlier this month, the government said employers cut 216,000 jobs from their payrolls in August.
Treasury prices were lower, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.47% from Thursday’s 3.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil was down 43 cents to $71.76 U.S.
Gold prices were down $3 at $1,010 U.S. an ounce.
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