Futures for Canada's main stock index edged up on Friday on higher gold prices, although gains were limited by concerns around surging Omicron cases around the world.
The S&P/TSX Composite sank 29.38 points to end Thursday at 20,739.78.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.24 cents to 78 cents U.S.
Futures were up 0.1% Friday.
Cenovus Energy on Thursday agreed to sell its Tucker thermal assets in northeastern Alberta for $800 million, as the Canadian oil and gas producer looks to shed assets to repay debt.
JP Morgan raised the target price on Altagas to $31.00 from $30.00.
CIBC cut the rating on to neutral from outperform.
Scotiabank initiated coverage on Trilogy Metals with a sector perform rating.
The rapid spread of Omicron coronavirus cases in the U.S. has forced some companies to pause plans to get workers back into office, while the number of cases in countries including Denmark, South Africa and Britain, has been doubling every two days.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported foreign investors acquired $23.9 billion of Canadian securities in October, the largest investment since April 2020. At the same time, Canadian investors increased their holdings of foreign securities by $5.4 billion, led by record purchases of non-U.S. foreign bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was positive 9.14 points, or 1%, Thursday to 888.45.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were in negative territory early Friday morning as investors sold tech stocks again, a day after losses in the sector dragged down the rest of the market.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials lost 160 points, or 0.4%, to 35,631.
Futures for the S&P 500 doffed 31 points, or 0.7%, to 4,628.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ tumbled 193.5 points, or 1.2%, to 15,673.25. The tech-heavy index sustained heavy losses Thursday for its worst day since September.
The market is divided on the week with the NASDAQ down 2.9%, while the S&P 500 is off by 0.9% and the Dow has shed just 0.2%.
Shares of one-time EV darling Rivian lost 10% in pre-market trading Friday after the truck maker said it will fall short of its 2021 production target.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, Nvidia lost nearly 2% in pre-market trading, adding to its 6% loss on the week. Tesla shares were down another 1%, adding to their 9% loss on the week.
FedEx shares jumped 5% after quarterly earnings and revenue results topped expectations and it announced a $5-billion buyback. The shipper also reinstated its original 2022 EPS forecast.
Bank stocks were in the green again a bit in early trading Friday. They were among the biggest gainers on Thursday and are higher for the week. Bank of America and Wells Fargo added more than 2%. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan rose more than 1%. Shares of Verizon jumped more than 4% as one of the top performers in the Dow.
On Friday, Darden Restaurants and Winnebago are scheduled to report quarterly earnings results before the bell.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 hesitated 1.8% Friday, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.2%.
Oil prices slumped $1.46 to $70.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $15.40 to $1,813.60 U.S. an ounce.
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