Stock markets are again trading in a narrow range Friday as investors juggle the shaky economic outlook with more positive news from Iraq. Investors are having a tough time deciding what to do with the weekend coming up. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is down 1.06 points to 6,395.57.

Canada’s unemployment rate dipped slightly in March to 7.3%, from 7.4% in February, while the American jobless rate held steady at 5.8%.

However, Statistics Canada warned the pace of job growth is slowing and U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy lost 108,000 jobs.

Active stocks in Toronto included Bombardier which is up 4¢ to $3.60.

Active on the downside is Zarlink Semiconductor, off 13¢ to $5.70. Other notable losers include Canadian Natural Resources, of 50¢ to $48.19, and CAE, down 16¢ to $3.63.

Shares in Research In Motion are sharply higher after the firm reported late Thursday a loss of US$130 million for its fiscal year as it continued to build its customer base. RIM shares have soared $1.28 to $22.63.

Power Corp. shares are up 24¢ to $37.44 after the financial services conglomerate reported a 4.4% rise in 2002 earnings, on revenue that topped $19 billion.

U.S. light crude dropped US72¢ to US$28.25 a barrel. Petro Canada was down 69¢ to $48.95.

The price of gold turned around and was US20¢ higher to US$325 an ounce in New York. Kinross Gold rose 14¢ to $8.43.

In other corporate news, Bank of Montreal is boosting its U.S. profile with the $44 million acquisition of Gerard Klauer Mattison, a New York-based market research, sales and trading firm. Its shares are down 8¢to $40.30.

In New York, the Dow industrial average gave up a lead of about 60 points but is still 11.27 points higher at 8,251.65 after losing 44.68 points the day before.

The Nasdaq gave up earlier leads and lost 10.21 points to 1,386.37, while the S&P 500 was ahead 0.81 point at 877.26.