Bay Street stocks dipped just a bit below the flat line in late Friday trading after surrendering an earlier rally. A strong day for Research in Motion and the tech sector was offset by a decline by miners.
The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 9.66 points, to finish the week at 11,463.40.
The technology index has added strength as Research in Motion has soared more than 11% to $74.69.
The Blackberry maker reported that its third-quarter net income increased to $628.37 million U.S. or $1.10 U.S. per share from $396.30 million U.S. or $0.69 U.S. per share last year.
Analysts expected the company to report profit of $1.04 U.S. per share.
Gold stocks gained ground, as Eldorado gained 5.6% to $14.55, Iamgold was up 3.7% to $16.81 and Goldcorp added 2.4% to $40.97.
Mining stocks were down, as HudBay lost 8.3% to $12.90, after reporting updated drill results from its copper-gold zone at its Lalor deposit in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt.
In other corporate news, Patheon gained 2.9% to $2.49 amid choppy trading after the company reported fourth quarter net income of $4.6 million U.S., compared to $37.3 million U.S. last year. Earnings per share were $0.036 U.S., compared to $0.394 U.S. in the prior-year quarter.
Royal Gold was up 0.9% to $50.67 after it agreed to acquire International Royalty Corp. in a cash and stock deal worth about $749 million. International Royalty gained 3.4% to $7.57.
Enerflex Systems Income Fund rose 2.9% to $14.39 after the company raised its offer to acquire Toromont Industries Ltd. to $14.25 per unit or about $315.6 million. Toromont was down 0.8%.
Commercial Solutions was unchanged at 25 cents after the company reported its fourth-quarter net loss was $1.77 million or $0.09 per share, compared to a net income of $0.82 million or $0.04 per share a year ago.
Potash declined 6% to $112.08 after being downgraded to "sell" from "hold" at Soleil Securities Group, with a target price of $85.
Pengrowth Energy added 0.5% to $10.28 after being upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Canaccord Adams.
Paramount Resources climbed 1.7% to $14.75 after the company said it acquired an additional 2.72 million shares of Redcliffe Exploration.
On the economic front, wholesale sales climbed by 0.3% in October, compared to a revised gain of 0.1% in September. Analysts expected a 0.1% increase.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.40 cents to 93.80 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The 14 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between gainers and losers. Information technology was the runaway winner, leaping 3.5%, while gold and telecoms were co-runners-up at 1.4% each.
The seven losing groups were weighed by metals and mining stocks, down 1.3%, while energy stocks faded back 0.4% and utilities was off 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 9.05 points to 1,430.20, while the Nasdaq Canada index jacked up 50.32 points to 739.52
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks ended higher Friday, with technology shares leading the rebound, amid heavy volume on a day of contract expirations and little economic news.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 20.63 points to 10,328.89, while the S&P 500 remained higher by 6.39 points to 1,102.47, while the Nasdaq finished the day ahead 31.64 to 2,211.69
One trader said that trading would likely remain choppy for the last couple of weeks of 2009, barring major geopolitical news or the passage of new U.S. health-care legislation.
Volatility had been expected Friday because of quadruple witching -- a quarterly event in which stock index futures and options, as well as individual stock futures and options, all expire simultaneously.
Tech shares were the standout, boosted by upbeat earnings reports after the closing bell Thursday from Oracle and the aforementioned Research in Motion.
Oracle, the world's number-two business software maker, reported earnings per share of 39 cents U.S., beating the forecast of 36 cents. Oracle shares were up 6.6% Friday.
But smartphone maker Palm reported a wider-than-expected loss of 37 cents U.S. per share in its second fiscal quarter.
Nike reported its earnings fell to 76 cents U.S. in the second fiscal quarter from 80 cents U.S. per share a year earlier.
Pepsi announced late Thursday that it will not advertise in this season's Super Bowl. The beverage giant has advertised the past 23 years, and was among the top four advertisers during last season's game.
Treasury prices eased back, picking up yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.53% from Thursday’s 3.48%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained 35 cents to $73 U.S.
Gold prices picked up five dollars to $1,112 an ounce U.S.
