The Toronto stock market was little changed Friday amid lower prices for oil and metals and a mixed run of earnings news from the United States.
The S&P TSX Composite Index fought its way ahead 16.41 points to close the week at 12,397.10
The Canadian dollar slid 0.19 cents to 98.57 cents U.S.
The energy sector was down as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped. Canadian Natural Resources lost 34 cents to $38.98, but rival Imperial Oil bolted ahead 97 cents to $47.15
The base metals sector fell as metal prices also backed away with March copper down two cents to $3.78 U.S. a pound. But prices for the metal, viewed as an economic bellwether because it is used in so many businesses, have jumped about 4% this week after Chinese growth for the fourth quarter came in better than expected.
China is the world’s biggest consumer of copper and the data raised hopes that Chinese authorities would loosen lending requirements to encourage growth.
HudBay Minerals gave back 21 cents to $11.27.
The gold sector dipped as Barrick Gold Corp. was down 51 cents to $46.46, while rival Goldcorp acquired 68 cents to $45.57
The telecom sector provided some relief as BCE Inc. rose eight cents to $42.12.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported this morning that the annual inflation rate grew at 2.3% in December, a 0.6-percentage-point drop over November, due largely to slower growth in prices for gasoline and food, and actual drops in purchases of motor vehicles.
The nation’s number crunchers also told us this morning that wholesale sales fell 0.4% to $49.0 billion in November, after six straight upward months, due mostly to declines in sales of farm supplies and motor vehicles.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 17.14 points to 1,571.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index erased 3.24 points to 407.58.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were still lower by the end of the day. Metals and mining took a 2.1% hit, while information technology issues were off 1.4% and global base metals lost 0.8%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by financials, up 1%, while health-care and gold each strengthened 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, investors were unwilling to place any big bets Friday, as key Greek debt talks remain unresolved.
Even so, the Dow Jones Industrials ended the day up 96.50 points to close a holiday-shortened week at 12,720.50
The S&P 500 was 0.77 points above breakeven to 1,315.27, while the Nasdaq Composite skidded 1.63 points to 2,786.70.
Investors are still weighing quarterly results from some of the nation's biggest tech firms that reported after the bell Thursday. Microsoft, Intel and IBM posted solid fourth-quarter earnings, but Google badly missed Wall Street forecasts.
Google shares plunged more than 8% Friday, while IBM and Microsoft both gained more than 4%. Intel shares were up nearly 2%.
U.S. markets have more corporate earnings to digest, after Dow component General Electric reported its quarterly results Friday morning. The company's earnings just beat forecasts, but GE's shares fell 0.2%, as its revenue fell short of expectations.
Shares of Apple fell 1.5%, a day after the tech giant's market cap briefly topped $400 billion U.S.
Shares of Carnival Corp., which owns the grounded Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia, remain under pressure. Carnival's stock has shed 7% since the Jan. 13 accident. Shares were down another 1% Friday.
Investors continue to fear repercussions from the European debt crisis, particularly the prospect that Greece may end up defaulting in a disorderly fashion. A deal on restructuring Greek debt remained elusive on Thursday, but talks continue Friday.
The deal is a key condition for Greece to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Without additional financial support, Greece may not be able to make a €14-billion payment it owes on bonds that comes due March 20.
Officials from the IMF, E.U. and European Central Bank, known as the troika, are also in Athens reviewing the nation's finances.
Economically speaking, investors received an auspicious report on existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors Friday morning. Sales rose by 5% in December, faster than an expected 2.9%, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
Homes sold at an annual rate of 4.6 million, up from a rate of 4.42 million in November. The realtor group cited early signs of "sustained recovery."
Treasury prices for the 10-year note eased, pushing yields up to 2.03% from Thursday’s 1.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery retreated $2.24 to $98.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $9.50 to $1,664.00 U.S. an ounce.
