Canada's main stock index was little changed in choppy trading on Friday as a U.S. decision to conduct air strikes in Iraq gave the commodities sector a boostbut weighed on the broader market.
The S&P/TSX composite index was ahead but 17.20 points to greet early afternoon at 15,135.63.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.46 cents at 91.09 cents U.S.
The benchmark TSX has been hit over the past week by concerns about Ukraine, Israel and Iraq. It is down about 2.7% since touching a record high last week.
Financials fell as Bank of Nova Scotia shed 1% to $71.48, and Toronto Dominion Bank lost 0.9% to $55.45.
Shares of energy producers were up, with Canadian Natural Resources rising 0.7% to $45.12 and Talisman Energy jumping 1.9% to $11.57.
The gold-mining sector climbed with Barrick Gold gained 2.5% to $20.68, and Goldcorp advanced 0.8% to $31.13.
In corporate news, shares of Avigilon tumbled 14% to $21.40 after the maker of video surveillance cameras reported quarterly results late on Thursday.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp jumped 19% to $18.50, after U.S. regulators partially lifted a hold on the company's experimental Ebola drug to enable its potential use on humans infected with the virus.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that overall employment was unchanged in July, as gains in part-time work were offset by losses in full-time. The agency also said a decline in the number of folks searching for work pushed the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 7.0%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 1.24 points to 994.41
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were up, headed by health-care, up 1.8%, consumer discretionary stocks, up 1.5%, and energy, better by 1%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by information technology, sliding 0.8%, consumer staples, down 0.7%, and financials, off 0.6%
ON WALLSTREET
Despite a raft of geopolitical uncertainty, U.S. stocks were clinging to gains at the end of a volatile week.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved ahead 66.97 points to 16,435.24
The S&P 500 gained 7.40 points to 1,916.67. The NASDAQ composite squeaked up 9.71 points to 4,344.68. However, all three indices are still down for the week and the month of August so far.
Shares for yoga clothier Lululemon Athletica jumped after founder Dennis Wilson agreed to sell half his stake, of $845 million U.S. in stock, to private equity firm Advent.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals said Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow trials of an experimental treatment for the Ebola virus to move forward, a process dubbed "fast tracking". Shares soared 20%.
Shares in 21st Century Fox were down in early trading. Rupert Murdoch's media company announced this week it was dropping its bid to buy Time Warner and shares had jumped by about 6%.
Zynga shares sank after the maker of games for social media applications reported a loss for its second quarter. Tesla was down slightly despite resolving a trademark dispute that threatened its growth in China.
Sotheby's is among the key companies reporting second quarter earnings before the opening bell. The auction house has been under pressure from Dan Loeb's hedge fund Third Point to boost profits.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.39% from Thursday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 44 cents to $97.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were unchanged at $1,312.50 U.S. an ounce.
