Stocks in Toronto were generally unchanged by midday Friday, at the end of a busy week.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 2.37 points by noon Friday to 14,776.40
The Canadian dollar regained 0.57 cents to 88.52 cents U.S.
Blackberry Chief Executive John Chen sees Asia as key to reviving the loss-making smartphone maker's fortunes, but expanding in the region's biggest market, China, where security data concerns are rife, is currently not a priority. BlackBerry shares dropped 74 cents, or 5.4%, by noon ET to $13.00.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which will help transport oil from Canada to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, but a companion bill in the Senate may lack votes to pass next week. TransCanada Corp., among a number of companies with a lot at stake in the project,
Raymond James raised the price target on CGI Group to $49 from $46, with an outperform rating. CGI hiked 26 cents to $40.81.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales increased 2.1% in September to $53.0 billion, the eighth gain in nine months.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 1.65 points to 766.52.
Seven of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher with gold up 2.4%, materials gaining 1.2%, and consumer staples up 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 0.7%, while consumer discretionary and industrials stocks each faded 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fluctuated on Friday, with investors tracking the price of oil and after October retail sales rose 0.3%, just above expectations, and consumer confidence jumped in November.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 15.67 points to 17,637.12, despite Cisco Systems trying to pace blue-chip gains.
The S&P 500 was down 0.03 points at 2,039.30, with telecommunications the best performing and health care the worst among its 10 industry groups. The NASDAQ index gained 3.52 points to 4,683.66.
Baker Hughes rose after the oilfield-services provider confirmed discussions with Halliburton. Hertz Global Holdings declined after the car-rental company said it would restate three years of financial results.
Another economic report from the government on Friday had U.S. import prices falling in September the most in two years as the cost of petroleum products fell and a stronger dollar made it cheaper for Americans to buy goods from abroad.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained slightly, lowering yields to 2.34% from Thursday’s 2.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 65 cents to $74.86 U.S.
Gold prices gained $12 to $1,173.50 U.S.
