Stocks in Toronto finished a very successful first quarter on the downside on Friday, as losses in heavyweight financials and energy stocks offset gains in health-care and techs.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 53.4 points to finish Friday, the week and the month, at 16,102.09.
As of Friday’s close, the index had gained more than 1,700 points, or roughly 5%, on the year so far.
The Canadian dollar docked 0.38 cents at 74.84 cents U.S.
Gold stocks were hit hard enough to feel it by the closing bell, as Barrick Gold ducked lower 28 cents, or 1.5%, to $18.36, while Kirkland Lake Gold lost 66 cents, or 1.6%, to $40.68.
Financials were poorer, as RBC slumped 88 cents to $100.90, while Sun Life darkened seven cents to $51.29.
Among energy listings, Suncor handed back 28 cents to $43.34, while Canadian Natural Resources tailed off 24 cents to $36.67.
Health-care topped a very short list of gaining subgroups, as Canopy Growth gained $1.09, or 2.1%, to $58.08, while Aurora Cannabis forged ahead 28 cents, or 2.4%, to $12.13.
Shares of BlackBerry rose $1.60, or 13.4%, to $13.51, leading the gains on the TSX, after the company topped quarterly profit estimates, helped by a sharp rise in fees for licensing and using its technologies as it develops more software and solutions for customers.
Shopify shares gained $2.23 to $275.77.
Among consumer staples, Saputo took on a penny to $45.51.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported the economy 0.3% in January, gross domestic product fully offsetting the declines in November and December 2018.
The rise was widespread as 18 of 20 industrial sectors were up.
Also, the agency’s industrial product price index rose 0.3% in February, mainly due to higher prices for energy and petroleum products.
Its raw materials price index increased 4.6%, primarily due to higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.22 points to 626.89
All but three of the 12 Toronto subgroups were lower, with financials, gold and energy each off 0.5%.
The three gainers were health-care, up 0.8%, information technology, clicking 0.6%, and consumer staples, nosing up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Friday amid renewed optimism on the progress of trade talks between Washington and Beijing as Wall Street wrapped up a stellar quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 211.22 points to 25,928.68, as Boeing, UnitedHealth and Caterpillar outperformed.
The S&P 500 added 18.96 points to 2,834.40, led by the industrials and health-care sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 60.15 points to 7,729.32
Friday's gains added to the strong performance from the quarter. The S&P 500 was up 13.1% for the period, on pace for its biggest quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2009. The broad index was also on track for its best first quarter since 1998.
The Dow climbed 11.2% this quarter — its best start to a year since 2013 — while the NASDAQ is on pace for its biggest quarterly gain since the first quarter of 2012, rising 16.5%.
CarMax was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, rallying 9.5% on strong earnings. Sentiment was also lifted by Lyft, as the ride-sharing company surged more than 8% in its first day of trading.
U.S. officials said China had made proposals on a range of issues that go further than it has before — including on forced technology transfer.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said on Friday he had a "productive working dinner" with Chinese trade officials the previous night in Beijing, as both sides restart negotiations with the hope of bringing an end to their protracted trade dispute.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell Friday’s, raising yields to 2.41% from Thursday’s 2.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 83 cents to $60.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.50 to $1,296.80 U.S. an ounce.
