Equities in Toronto slipped to a one-week low on Friday, as a selloff in U.S. semiconductor stocks and other high-flying shares gathered pace and dented sentiment, while gains in energy companies kept declines in check.
The TSX backslid 106.65 points to reach noon Friday at 35,233.50.
The Canadian dollar hiked 0.14 cents to 71.37 cents U.S.
The TSX has lost 71 points on the week, or 0.2%, while the TSX Venture slumped more than 57 points or 6.3%.
Technology stocks were among the biggest decliners on the TSX, with Celestica down $16.96, or 4%, to $410.00, Shopify off $4.43, or 2.5%, to $171.38, BlackBerry down 35 cents, 2.7%, to $12.50.
The materials sector fell 1.3%, led by a sharp decline of 26 cents, or 2.7%, to $9.43, in Trekor Metals, and Ivanhoe Mines sliding 23 cents, or 2.3%, to $9.75.
Earlier this month, ?the Trump administration said it will not ?renew the USMCA ?trade agreement, but that the pact would remain in effect until the issues were ?resolved or the agreement terminated.
On the economic slate, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported housing starts were down 6% from the previous month to a seasonally adjust annual rate of 239,000 units in June, compared to a downwardly revised 253,000 units in May and falling short of markets expectations of 258,000 units.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 6.22 points to 848.15.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided in the first hour of trade, with information technology down 1.6%, while materials slid 1.6%, and gold dulled 1.1%.
Seven of the 12 gainers were lower, as information technology skid 2.8%, while materials decreased 1%, and gold, off 0.8%.
The five gainers were led by energy, up 1%, while health-care took on 0.6%, while utilities were up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell on Friday as mounting jitters over artificial intelligence spending dragged tech lower, putting the index on pace for a losing week.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 52.11 points to 52,605.08,
The much broader index lost 41.01 points to 7,492.54
The NASDAQ Composite slid 317.98 points, or 1.2%, to 25,560.16
Shares of Applied Materials and LAM Research declined 5% and 3%, respectively. Intel also shed more than 3%, while KLA Corporation dropped more than 4%. Nvidia lost more than 1%.
Those losses added to declines seen in the previous session, which were also led by semiconductors. Adding to that downbeat sentiment, Chinese startup Moonshot AI unveiled a new model that it says narrows the gap with the top offerings in the U.S.
Alongside chips, shares of Netflix were a major laggard Friday, falling more than 8% as the company’s forecast failed to ease investor concerns that growth is slowing.
The major stock benchmarks are also down week to date, with the S&P 500 off by nearly 2%, while the Dow has slipped more than 1% and while NASDAQ sank 3%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury hiked, lowering yields to 4.54% from Thursday’s 4.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices jumped $2.45 to $81.40 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $26.70 to $4.018.80 U.S. an ounce.
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