Toronto stocks ended lower on Friday as investors grabbed for profits after Thursday's 162-point surge, but a rally by gold-mining issues helped limit the slide.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 79.25 points, or 0.72 percent, at 11,002.57. The benchmark index finished the week up 2.6 percent.
"We had a nice substantial advance yesterday, and today it seems that investors are taking some profits off the table ahead of the weekend," said Elvis Picardo, chief market strategist at Global Securities Corp.
Trading was light with about 228 million shares changing hands, worth C$3.4 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 7 to 6.
Toronto stocks soared on Thursday after Ottawa pleased investors by saying it would cut the tax on dividends and leave the income trust structure unchanged.
"The big decline we saw in October in retrospect seems like a quintessential buying opportunity and the dividend tax cut is sort of the icing on the cake," Picardo said.
Overall, eight of the TSX index's 10 main group fell, led by the telecoms sector, which dropped 1.88 percent, while heavyweight financial issues fell 1.01 percent.
Those same two groups led the way higher on Thursday.
Royal Bank of Canada lost 82 Canadian cents, or 0.9 percent, to C$90.08, while Manulife Financial dropped 89 Canadian cents, or 1.31 percent, to C$67.
CI Financial lost 59 Canadian cents, or 2.33 percent, to C$24.71 after it waived certain conditions in its C$284 million ($242 million) offer for Clarington Corp.
In telecoms, BCE Inc fell 95 Canadian cents, or 3.2 percent, to C$28.75, and Telus Corp dropped C$1.12, or 2.36 percent, to C$46.43.
The health-care sector fell 1.66 percent, dragged down by Biovail Corp, which dropped 75 Canadian cents, or 2.64 percent, to C$27.67.
On the positive side, utilities gained 0.51 percent, followed by a 0.13 percent rise in the materials sector, home to the gold-mining issues.
Golds pushed higher as the bullion price in Europe nosed closer to the $500 an ounce mark.
Kinross Gold gained 19 Canadian cents, or 2.05 percent, to C$9.46, while Placer Dome rose 19 Canadian cents, or 0.75 percent, to C$25.59.
The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index ended down 4.31 points, or 0.69 percent, at 622.34.
In New York, where the markets closed early for the Thanksgiving weekend, stocks rose as the start of the holiday shopping period put visions of profits in investors' heads.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 15.53 points, or 0.14 percent, to end at 10,931.62. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.03 points, or 0.13 percent, at 2,263.01.
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