Gains on the market in Canada’s biggest centre faded near breakeven on Friday, despite big gains by health-care heavyweight Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
The S&P/TSX composite index pared its gains to 9.31 points to finish the day and the week at 13,838.10
The Canadian dollar subtracted 0.26 cents at 77.47 cents U.S.
Valeant surged 4.9% on the day to $227.40, while rival Concordia Healthcare picked up 3.5% to $42.08.
In the real-estate sector – another big winner – Brookfield Asset Management triumphed 2.4%, to $43.95.
Financials also scored well, with Bank of Montreal gaining 1.1% to $75.36, and Royal Bank up 0.8% to $74.02.
Among the biggest losing group, metals and mining, First Quantum Mining retreated 3.8% to $7.51, while Teck Resources fell back 4.1% to $8.34.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported this morning that foreign investors added $3.1 billion of Canadian securities to their holdings in August, following a $10.1 billion divestment in July. The agency adds that in the same month, Canadian investment in foreign securities resumed with acquisitions totaling $8.7 billion, mainly U.S securities.
Moreover, manufacturing sales edged down 0.2% to $52.1 billion in August, following three consecutive monthly increases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 0.41 points Friday to 556.30
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher on Friday, with health-care soaring 2.4%, real-estate 1.1% more solid, and financials 0.7% to the good.
The six laggards were burdened most by metals and mining, collapsing 4%, while gold was off 1.9%, and materials sank 1.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equity markets south of the border closed higher Friday for a third week of gains as mixed data pushed out expectations for the timing of the first rate hike.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 74.22 points to end the week at 17,215.97, with General Electric leading advancers and Caterpillar the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 took on 7.08 points to 2,030.94, with consumer staples leading seven sectors higher and industrials and materials the only decliners.
The NASDAQ index gained 10.51 points to 4,880.61, though Apple’s lower close weighed gains down.
On the earnings front, General Electric posted earnings per share above expectations, but revenues fell short of estimates.
Honeywell posted earnings that beat on revenue that missed, hurt by the strong U.S. dollar.
Shares of Twitter rose on a Bloomberg report that said former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took a 4% stake in the company.
United Continental's stock hit session lows after a report said CEO Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack.
On the data front, industrial production declined 0.2% in September, with capacity utilization at 77.5%.
The preliminary read on October consumer sentiment came in at 92.1. JOLTS showed 5.37 million job openings for August.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slid, raising yields to 2.03% from Thursday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tacked on 94 cents a barrel to $47.32 U.S.
Gold prices docked $6.80 to $1,176.30 U.S. an ounce.
