Canadian stocks climbed Friday, with the resource-heavy market finding support from strength in the metals sector, but the market’s benchmark stock index was ready to finish lower for the week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 131.32 points, or 1.1%, to conclude the week at 11,635.74.
The benchmark index ended the week more than 3% lower.
The Canadian dollar eased 0.29 cents to 96.37 cents U.S.
Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. rose $1.00 to $46.79 and Goldcorp Inc. was up $1.05 to $47.98.
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. saw its stock climb 45 cents to $18.63 and Thomson Creek Metals Co added 18 cents to $6.97.
Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc was up 98 cents to $31.98 and Nexen Inc. traded 18 cents higher to $15.20.
Among technology shares, Research In Motion Ltd. was a standout in Toronto, where shares of the BlackBerry maker dropped $1.89 or nearly 12% to $13.91.
The company reported third-quarter earnings of $265 million, or 51 cents a share on revenue of $5.17 billion Friday.
Excluding one-time items, RIM would have earned $667 million, or $1.27 a share, in the three months ended Nov. 26. The results were in line with a pre-announcement from Dec. 2.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast that RIM would earn $1.19 a share on revenue of $5.27 billion, on average, for the latest quarter.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported this morning that foreigners did not dive into Canadian securities during October as they had done in months past.
Figures showed non-residents adding $2.0 billion to their holdings, compared with an average acquisition of $9.2 billion over the previous three months. Canadian investors acquired $2.2 billion in foreign securities during the same month, slightly more than in September.
Elsewhere, fewer of us are on the pogey. The nation’s number crunchers told us that the number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits declined by 5,400 or 1% in October, to 541,200.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange progressed 19.70 points to 1,424.63, while the Nasdaq Canada index was down 7.96 points to 354.22
Ten of the 14 Toronto subgroups were up on the day, headed by materials, up 2.4%, gold, gaining 2.2%, and energy, progressing 2.1%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by telecoms, off 0.8%, consumer staples, down 0.6%, and information technology, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, after moving up more than 1% in the first hour of trading all three indexes have been steadily giving back those gains, with the Dow moving into negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 2.42 points by the close to end the week at 11,866.40
The S&P 500 added 3.51 points, to 1,219.26, while the Nasdaq Composite prospered 14.32 points to 2,555.33
Shares of Zynga rose 10% in their public debut on the Nasdaq, before dropping in the afternoon.
The maker of popular Facebook game Farmville priced shares at $10 U.S. apiece in its initial public offering late Thursday.
Part of the selloff came after Fitch put seven European countries on credit watch negative, citing the higher probability that it could downgrade these nations in the next few months.
Still, investors breathed a sigh of relief that France, in particular, retained its pristine AAA rating.
Beyond France, Fitch Ratings also affirmed the ratings of Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland and Cyprus, while putting them on review for potential near-term downgrades Friday after the European markets closed.
Friday also marked "quadruple witching," when four types of contracts expired -- those tied to market index futures, market index options, stock options and stock futures.
While many traders tried to settle out those contracts ahead of expiration, there was often some volatility on the actual day.
On the economic front, consumer prices rose at a 3.4% annual rate in November, virtually unchanged from the prior month, the government said.
Elsewhere, federal officials also said Friday that Europe's crisis could wind up being a job killer for the United States.
New York Fed President William Dudley told lawmakers that deterioration in the European economy could reduce demand for U.S. products. And Steven Kamin, director of the division of international finance at the Federal Reserve, echoed those comments with equally dire testimony.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained strength, pushing the yield down to 1.85% from 1.91% Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery eked ahead 22 cents to $94.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery rose $20.70 to $1,597.90 U.S. an ounce.
