The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index dipped along with gold producers on Friday despite positive bank earnings and good news about the North American economy. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 16.14 points, or 0.1 percent, at 12,899.58. Eight of the composite index's 10 main groups closed lower.
The index sits just 100 points from the 13,000 mark after a week in which it logged a series of record highs but tracked in a thin range, logging a modest 1.1 percent advance.
It touched an intraday high of 12,962.84 on Friday and is up 14.4 percent on the year. "We've had a winning week and the majority of days have been on the upside, but at the same time there's still that element of volatility to our market that is very much present," said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod.
Bullion dipped on Friday, and heavyweight producers such as Barrick Gold and Goldcorp led the gold-mining subsector down for the third session in the last four.
Barrick slipped 67 Canadian cents, or 1.9 percent, to C$34.70, while Goldcorp was off 75 Canadian cents, or 2.2 percent, at C$33.62. Toronto-Dominion Bank also ended on the downside, despite reporting a 29 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit. Canada's third-biggest bank by market value slipped 65 Canadian cents, or 1 percent, to C$67.35.
Meanwhile, the country's second-biggest bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, managed to gain 3 Canadian cents, or 0.1 percent, to C$51.60 as it reported an 11 percent rise in earnings on the back of strong international results.
"Good earnings from banks again today gives some people the opportunity to take some profits," Ketchen said. Overall financial-services stocks advanced 0.4 percent. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which reported on Thursday, rose C$2.08, or 2.2 percent, to C$96.88, touching a second record high in as many days.
In economic news, housing starts rose unexpectedly last month as low mortgage rates boosted construction of multiple-family dwellings, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said on Friday.
In the United States, the Labour Department reported stronger than expected job growth in November, boosting investor optimism about the outlook for corporate profits. Joe Ismail, technical analyst at Maison Placements Canada said profit-taking has revealed itself in a very disorderly fashion this week. "But the trend is still positive on the Canadian side, so expect the year-end rally to continue in the next week or so," he said.
Market volume was a light 318 million shares worth C$5.3 billion. Decliners outpaced advancers 831 to 766. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 1.34 points lower, or 0.2 percent, at 741.73.
South of the border, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 29.08 points, or 0.24 percent, to close at 12,307.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 9.67 points, or 0.40 percent, to close at 2,437.36.
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