Toronto’s main stock confounded some of the experts and gained ground early Friday as tensions between the West and Russia, weak German data and mixed corporate earnings weighed on investor sentiment.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 18.76 points, to start out the last Friday of the month at 15,413.21.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.30 cents at 92.88 cents U.S.
Canada said on Thursday it would impose sanctions on a range of Russian firms and banks to punish Moscow for what it said was the illegal occupation of Crimea and "provocative military activity" in eastern Ukraine.
Talisman Energy, approached by Spain's Repsol for talks over a potential deal, may find that its appeal lies more in its individual assets than as a candidate for a complete takeover. Talisman retreated six cents to $11.70.
Raymond James raised the target on Air Canada to $7.50 from $6.50, with an underperform rating. The Maple Leaf airline’s shares were stuck on the tarmac at $9.67.
Barclays cut the rating on Cenovus Energy to equal-weight from overweight. Cenovus shares dipped 35 cents to $33.04.
National Bank Financial resumed coverage on Rubicon Minerals with outperform rating. Rubicon shares added a nickel to $1.59.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange took on 0.30 points to 1,011.95
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher at the outset, with gold jumping 0.7%, while financials and materials were each up 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining, down 0.8%, energy, off 0.5%, and telecoms, settling 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks are ending the week on a sour note, putting the S&P 500 in reverse on the road to 2,000.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 100.21 points to 16,983.59.
The S&P 500 dropped 5.22 points to 1,982.76. The NASDAQ composite slipped 15.65 points to 4,456.46, largely due to a more-than-11% drop in Amazon following its latest earnings.
Amazon's sales jumped more than 20% but it also reported a $123-million U.S. loss.
Some investors may be growing tired of Amazon's long history of quarters where it loses more than expected due to big investments.
The company has been spending a lot this quarter, unveiling products and services like the Fire TV, Fire Phone and Sunday delivery..
21st Century Fox merged its BSkyB cable assets in Germany and Italy with BSkyB in England, freeing up $8.3 billion U.S. in cash.
The market apparently thinks that the money might be put to use to help Rupert Murdoch's Fox make a higher bid for Time Warner, which Fox has sought to buy for $80 billion U.S. Time Warner turned down the offer. Fox and Time Warner shares were flat Friday.
Today will be the first day of trading for El Pollo Loco, whose shares priced at $15 U.S. per share, the higher end of its IPO range. The company has a lot of debt and isn't exactly Chipotle, but it has ambitious expansion plans and healthy IPO market behind it. Four other companies are due to debut Friday.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.48% from Thursday’s 2.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 95 cents to $101.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $4.50 to $1,295.30 U.S. an ounce.
