The Toronto stock market was higher at lunch hour Friday, as gold hovered near a recent high.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 81.16 points to approach noon hour at 12,785.68
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.37 cents to 96.67 cents U.S.
Energy stocks showed the way, with Bankers Petroleum surging 23 cents, or 6.9%, to $3.55. Imperial Oil was up 44 cents to $42.96.
Among consumer discretionary stocks, car parts magnate Magna International climbed $1.49, or 1.8%, to $83.72.
In the real-estate sector, Northern Property REIT leaped 58 cents, or 2.3%, to $26.33, while RioCan REIT units gained 38 cents, or 1.6%, to $23.85.
In the gold sector, Alacer Gold gained 11 cents to $3.14.
Leavening things, tech stocks pointed downward, with BlackBerry fading 31 cents, or 2.7%, to $10.99.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported this morning that folks offshore reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $15.4 billion in June, the largest reduction in nearly six years.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors kept buying foreign securities, adding $3.7 billion to their portfolios in June.
The nation’s number crunchers also reported that manufacturing sales declined 0.5% to $48.2 billion during the same month, the fourth decrease in six months,
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained another 4.17 points to 936.27
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher midday, powered by energy, up 1.2%, consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.8%, and real-estate, climbing 0.6%
The four laggards were weighed mostly by information technology and materials, each down 0.4%, and global base metals, down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
It's looking like stocks will suffer their second consecutive week of losses. While that's been rare so far this year, it's pretty typical during the dog days of August.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 8.76 points by noon ET to 15,103.40
The S&P 500 index inched up 0.38 points to 1,661.70. The NASDAQ added 11.16 points to 3,617.28
For the week, all three indexes are down between 1.5% and 2%.
Nordstrom was the latest to disappoint. The upscale department store's revenue came in short of forecasts and it also offered weak guidance for the remainder of the year, sending shares lower.
Earlier in the week, Wal-Mart, Macy's and Kohl's reported lackluster results and tepid outlooks.
The weakness among retailers was a hot topic among traders who wondered what it could mean for other companies, including credit card giants Visa and MasterCard
Also on the earnings front, Dell reported solid quarterly results after the close Thursday, but shares traded lower Friday. The company's future is still in limbo. Founder Michael Dell wants to take it private, but hedge fund manager Carl Icahn has put up a fight.
J.C. Penney shares were down again Friday after the retailer announced it has reached an agreement with former board member and its largest shareholder Bill Ackman that will allow the activist investor to sell his stake in the company.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, raising yields to 2.81% from Thursday’s 2.76%. Treasury price and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 64 cents to $107.97 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $8.10 to $1,369 U.S. an ounce.
