Canadian stocks opened slightly lower on Friday, with upward traction in crude prices after euro-zone recovery buoyed energy stocks, while weakness in gold prices dragged precious metal miners.
The TSX lost 17.42 points to begin the week’s last session at 20,613.27.
The Canadian dollar eased back 0.04 cents to 73.77 cents U.S.
Brookfield Asset Management has made a counter bid of 2.13 billion pounds ($2.7 billion U.S.) to take over payments provider Network International, topping a joint proposal from CVC Capital and Francisco Partners. Brookfield shares inched up four cents to $44.19.
Imperial Oil's CEO apologized to Canadian lawmakers for toxic tailings leaks at its Kearl oil sands mine and conceded the company had been "negligent" in not sharing information with nearby First Nations communities. IMO shares retreated 28 cents to $71.49.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, said it will support a plan by Teck Resources to spin off its metallurgical coal business and focus on copper and zinc. Teck shares parted with $1.37, or 2.2%, to $61.39.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported retail sales decreased 0.2% to $66.3 billion in February. Sales decreased in four of nine subsectors and were led by decreases at gasoline stations and fuel vendors (-5.0%) and general merchandise retailers (-1.6%).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.29 points to 614.20.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, led by consumer staples, up 1%, information technology, up 0.9%, and industrials, ahead 0.6%
The four laggards were weighed most by materials, off 1.1%, gold, duller by 0.6%, and financials, faltering 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell slightly on Friday morning as investors weighed a week’s worth of earnings results and concerns of disappointing profits. All the major averages headed for a week of losses.
The Dow Jones Industrials picked up 48.22 points to 33,834.84.
The much broader index inched up 1.83 points to 4,131.62.
The NASDAQ let go of 18.1 points to 12,041.46.
Major indices are on pace to finish the week in the red, with the Dow and the S&P 500 on track for their worst weekly performances since March. The NASDAQ’s seen the biggest losses, with the tech-heavy index down 1.1%. The Dow and S&P have lost 0.5% each.
Earnings season continued Friday, with results from Procter & Gamble. The consumer products company gained 3% after beating expectations and liftings it sales forecast. As of Friday morning, 76% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings so far have beaten analyst EPS estimates, according to FactSet.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury hesitated, raising yields to 3.56% from Thursday’s 3.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dumped 43 cents to $77.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $31.70 to $1,987,40 U.S. an ounce.
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