Equities in Toronto were lower on Friday, with the declines led by natural resource shares, pulled lower by a retreat in commodity prices, and bank stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index was off its lows of the morning, but still negative 49.54 points to greet noon at 14,820.26.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.59 cents to 79.50 cents U.S.
Among the most influential movers on the index were oil companies Enbridge Inc, which was down 1.3% at $60.26, and TransCanada Corp which was off 1.5% at $53.75.
Other key decliners included Royal Bank of Canada, which fell 0.8% to $75.15, and Toronto Dominion, which declined 0.9% to $53.18.
The materials group, home to mining firms, was off as gold and copper prices slipped.
Blackberry shares were among the advancers, rising 3.4% to $11.99 after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and offered signs its turnaround efforts may be gaining traction.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 2.02 points to 677.54
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, as global base metals dropped 0.9%, financials sank 0.7%, and the metals and mining group ditched 0.5%.
The three gainers were health-care, ahead 0.4%, information technology, inching up 0.2%, and consumer discretionary issues, eking up 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Friday as equities attempted to break the week's decline and investors remained cautious ahead of first quarter earnings in April.
The Dow Jones Industrials found its way into the green 7.77 points to pause for noon Friday at 17,686.
The S&P 500 eked up 2.34 points to 2,058.49. The NASDAQ remained 11.87 points higher to 4,875.60.
Stocks have not posted gains for a single day so far this week. The last time the S&P posted losses for every consecutive day from Monday to Friday was in May 2012.
In corporate news, BlackBerry gained 2% after posting earnings of four cents a share, beating expectations for a four cent loss. However, revenue was far below Street forecasts as sales from services exceeded those from hardware.
Cruise ship operator Carnival surged more than 6% after reporting earnings that showed a net profit of $49 million U.S. or six cents a share.
Dow Chemical will spin off part of its chlorine derivatives business and merge it with Olin Corporation, creating a company with annual revenue of about $7 billion U.S.. It will get about $2 billion U.S. in cash and about $2.2 billion U.S. in Olin stock as part of the deal.
American Apparel's ex-CEO Dov Charney is seeking $40 million U.S. in damages for alleged breach of his employment contract. Charney was removed from his job in December following a six-month suspension amid allegations of misusing funds.
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook plans to donate his estimated $785-million U.S. fortune to charity, according to a Fortune article.
Amazon.com is in talks to buy online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, according to Forbes, in what might be the largest-ever acquisition for Amazon
The third estimate for fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) came in unchanged at 2.2%. While corporate profits fell, consumer spending was revised higher to 4.4% from 4.2%, the fastest rate since the first quarter of 2006.
Most analysts expected a rise to 2.4% from 2.2%. However, a few estimates say weak U.S. economic data could result in a negative revision.
The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment reading for March was 93.0, slightly above estimates but below February's 95.4.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 1.96% from Thursday’s 2%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices weakened $1.61 to $49.82 U.S.
Gold prices lost $6.20 to $1,198.60 U.S.
