Canada's main stock index was set to fall for the fifth session on Friday following a sharp escalation in US-China trade row that renewed worries over slowing global growth and sparked a flight to safer assets.
* At 9:55 a.m. ET (13:55 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 28.99 points, or 0.18%, at 16,348.05.
* US President Donald Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1, escalating a bruising and protracted clash between the world's two biggest economies. China said on Friday it would take countermeasures.
* Seven of the TSX's 11 major sectors were in the red.
* The energy sector dropped 0.5% while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.8%.
* The heavyweight financials sector slipped 0.3% and the industrials sector saw a similar fall.
* US crude prices were up 3.2% a barrel, while Brent crude added 3.6%, recovering from their sharpest fall in years.
* Meanwhile, investors flocked to the safety of the bullion, sending gold futures 1.2% higher to $1,437.8 an ounce.
* On the TSX, 83 issues were higher, while 143 issues declined for a 1.72-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 33.68 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Aphria Inc , which jumped 27.5% after the cannabis producer posted better-than-expected fourth quarter revenue. The second biggest gainer was Hexo Corp, up 4.8%.
* Open Text Corp fell 6.9%, the most on the TSX, after it posted fourth-quarter results.
* The second biggest decliner was CannTrust Holdings Inc , down 5.6% after the marijuana producer said the Ontario Securities Commission had opened an investigation into the company.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aphria Inc, Aurora Cannabis and Bombardier Inc.
* The TSX posted 11 new 52-week highs and seven new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 36 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows, with total volume of 49.97 million shares.
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