Stocks in Canada’s biggest market fell behind early Friday and never quite caught up to bring an end to the first half of calendar 2017.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 31.23 points – off their lows of the day -- to end the day, week, month, quarter and first half of 2017 at 15,182.19
The Canadian dollar gained 0.18 cents to 77.12 cents U.S.
The index is set to notch a 1.4% fall in June, and a 1.2% decline on the week.
Markets are to be closed Monday for Canada Day.
The energy group retreated, with Canadian Natural Resources falling 63 cents, or 1.7%, to $37.46 and Suncor down 32 cents to $37.94.
Telecoms fell off as BCE dropped 13 cents to $58.47.
Big banks and insurers suffered, with Royal Bank of Canada down 54 cents to $94.16 and Manulife Financial off 15 cents to $24.34.
In amongst consumer discretionary stocks, Canadian Tire galloped $1.43, or nearly 1%, to $147.59, while Magna International sprang up 73 cents, or 1.2%, to $60.14.
In the materials sector, First Majestic Silver gained 16 cents, or 1.5%, to $10.76, while First Quantum Minerals inched up five cents to $10.97.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the economy continued to advance in April, with gross domestic product up 0.2%, following a 0.5% gain in March.
StatsCan says 14 of 20 sectors moved forward.
The agency’s industrial product price index declined 0.2% in May, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index fell 1.8%, primarily due to lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.34 points to 766.74
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups remained negative on the day, as energy stocks faded 0.5%, while telecoms and financials dipped 0.4% each.
The five gainers were led by consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.6%, while materials and consumer staples each moved up 0.1%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities closed mostly higher on Friday as Wall Street capped a strong first-half performance.
The Dow Jones Industrials finished the day positive 62.6 points to 21,349.63, with Nike leading advancers and Goldman Sachs lagging. The 30-stock index has risen 8% through the first six months of the year, marking its best start to a year since 2013.
The S&P 500 recovered 3.71 points to 2,423.41, with energy and consumer discretionary leading advancers. The index has gained 8.3% this year, notching its best first-half gains since 2013, when it gained 12.6%.
The NASDAQ failed to hold onto gains made during the day and actually lost 3.93 points to 6,140.42. The tech-heavy index, however, has easily outperformed the Dow and the S&P this year, surging 14.1% and posting its largest first-half gains since 2009.
That said, the major indexes were on track to end the first half, and the second quarter, on a sour note. The Dow, S&P and NASDAQ were all lower for the week as technology stocks have rolled over.
Tech has been the best-performing sector for most of 2017, rising more than 15% in the period. But over the past month it has dropped more than 2%.
The strong performance from the banks came after the Federal Reserve cleared capital returns programs for the big banks.
The central bank did not object to any of the buybacks or dividend hikes from the 34 banks it reviewed during the second phase of its annual stress test. This is the first time in the seven-year history of the tests implemented in the wake of the financial crisis that all banks have passed.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lurched lower, raising yields to 2.30% from Thursday’s 2.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.31 to $46.24 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices docked four dollars to $1,241.80 U.S. an ounce.
