Toronto stocks ended essentially flat Friday after a quiet session, while U.S. markets dropped significantly for the second straight day, under pressure from high oil prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 2.21, or 0.02%, to close 9,9996.17. Volume was relatively thin at 181 million shares.
Six of the 10 TSX main ended up, with the financial sector, up 0.26%, the biggest positive mover on the day. Industrials fell 0.79%
Crude oil futures were up 42¢ at US$59.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. EnCana Corp. rose 30¢, or 0.60%, to end $50.20.
Bank of Nova Scotia ended up 45¢, or 1.11%, to close $41.15, while Sun Life Financial gained 56¢, or 1.35%, to close $41.95.
The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished up 3.24, or 0.19%, to 1,718.95.
On Wall Street, the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average dropped 123.60, or 1.19%, to 10,297.84. In the previous session, the Dow fell back 166.49 points.
The tech heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 17.39, or 0.84%, to 2,053.27, while the broad based S&P 500 index fell back 9.16, or 0.76%, to close 1,191.57.
For the week, the Dow fell 3.06%,the S&P 500 ilost 2.09%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.76%.