Stocks in Toronto listed lower by noon on Friday, as losses in heavyweight financials offset gains in energy stocks and BlackBerry shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 34.94 points to greet noon for the last time this quarter at 16,120.55.
As of Thursday’s close, the index had gained more than 1,800 points, or roughly 4.9%, on the year so far.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.4 cents at 74.86 cents U.S.
Shares of BlackBerry rose $1.60, or 13.4%, to $13.51, leading the gains on the TSX, after the company topped quarterly profit estimates, helped by a sharp rise in fees for licensing and using its technologies as it develops more software and solutions for customers.
Another large percentage gainer on the TSX, Ivanhoe Mines, rose 10 cents, or 3.2%, to $3.24, after brokerage CIBC raised the stock's price target.
Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals, leading decliner on the TSX, dropped 81 cents, or 2.5%, to $31.97.
The second-biggest drop was exhibited by BRP Inc, down $1.26, or 3.3%, to $37.28.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported the economy 0.3% in January, gross domestic product fully offsetting the declines in November and December 2018.
The rise was widespread as 18 of 20 industrial sectors were up.
Also, the agency’s industrial product price index rose 0.3% in February, mainly due to higher prices for energy and petroleum products.
Its raw materials price index increased 4.6%, primarily due to higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange held onto gains of 1.43 points to 624.10
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups were lower, with financials trailing 0.4%, while energy and communications each slid 0.3%.
The five gainers were led by information technology, up 0.8%, while health-care muscled up 0.4%, and gold shone 0.2% brighter.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Friday amid renewed optimism on the progress of trade talks between Washington and Beijing as Wall Street concluded a stellar quarterly performance.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 150.54 points to 25,868, as Walgreens Boots Alliance and Caterpillar outperformed.
The S&P 500 increased 11.11 points to 2,826.55, led by the industrials and health care sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 37.63 points to 7,706.59
Friday's gains added to the strong performance from the quarter. The S&P 500 was up 12.3% for the period, on pace for its biggest quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2009. The broad index was also on track for its best first quarter since 1998.
The Dow is up 10.3% this quarter through Thursday's close — its best start to a year since 2013 — while the NASDAQ is on pace for its biggest quarterly gain since the first quarter of 2012.
U.S. officials said China had made proposals on a range of issues that go further than it has before — including on forced technology transfer. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said on Friday he had a "productive working dinner" with Chinese trade officials the previous night in Beijing, as both sides restart negotiations with the hope of bringing an end to their protracted trade dispute.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell Friday’s, raising yields to 2.41% from Thursday’s 2.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 82 cents to $60.12 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $4.80 to $1,300.10 U.S. an ounce.
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