The Toronto stock market was slightly lower Friday morning at the end of a losing week where buying sentiment was dampened by growing concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to start reducing its monetary stimulus.
The S&P/TSX composite index remained negative 6.36 points to greet noon at 13,108.03
The Canadian dollar sprang to life, gaining 0.4 cents to 94.38 cents U.S.
The much battered TSX gold sector, down 50% for the year, moved up as Barrick Gold rose 40 cents to $17.88.
The base metals sector climbed and March copper was up a penny at $3.31 U.S. a pound.
Telecoms were weak after the CRTC announced it will look at wholesale rates charged to small wireless firms by the big players including Rogers, Bell and Telus.
The federal telecom regulator wants to know if big players are putting these small players at an unfair disadvantage with the wholesale roaming rates they charge. Telus shed 47 cents to $35.94.
The energy sector was slightly lower as Imperial Oil doffed 19 cents to $45.10
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.17 points to 890.26
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups were in the green midday, led by gold, shining 1.2% brighter, health-care, up 1.1%, and materials, up 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by telecoms, down 0.8%, industrials, down 0.4%, and energy, sliding 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were flat Friday as investors remain sidelined ahead of next week's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained eight points to 15,747.43
The S&P 500 index dropped 0.71 points to 1,774.79. The NASDAQ eked higher by 0.94 points to 3,999.34
Adobe shares surged after the software company reported sales Thursday that came in ahead of expectations.
Qualcomm named chief operating officer Steve Mollenkopf as its next CEO, succeeding Dr. Paul Jacobs, who will remain as executive chairman.
Mollenkopf's name was recently tossed around as a possible successor to Steve Ballmer at Microsoft.
Electronic Arts and GameStop shares rallied after industry research group NDP said video game hardware sales jumped in November.
Twitter shares were up about 3%, extending a run this week that has pushed the stock up nearly 30%.
Shares of petroleum company Anadarko were down sharply after a court ruled that it and its Kerr-McGee unit acted improperly in its 2005 spinoff of paint materials company Tronox. The judge said that the company should pay for environmental cleanup.
Stocks have surged this year, but the rally has faltered in December. The major gauges, which are up between 20% and 32% so far this year, are on track to end lower for the week.
The recent retreat comes amid speculation that the Fed could begin cutting back, or tapering, its $85-billion-U.S.-per-month bond-buying program when it wraps up its final policy meeting of the year on Dec. 18.
But some strategists say the economy is still too weak for the Fed to start removing its support, despite the recent improvement in hiring.
The latest inflation data could bolster those who say the Fed is unlikely to act this month. Producer prices fell 0.1% in November, according to the Commerce Department. The Fed's target for consumer price inflation is 2%, and some economists say the central bank is more concerned about deflation than the size of its balance sheet.
Meanwhile, the bond market is on track to have its worst year in history. Investors have pulled out $72 billion U.S. from bond mutual funds this year through the first week of December, the biggest annual outflow on record.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were slightly higher, lowering yields to 2.86% from Thursday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.02 to $96.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $12.00 to $1,236.90 U.S. an ounce.
