Canadian Stocks Give Back Recent Gains -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Selling dominated Friday's trading in Toronto, as Canada's main equity index gave back some of the gains it had posted over the previous two sessions. Healthcare and consumer staple stocks weighed on the market.

Higher oil prices buoyed the market early in the session, but downward momentum built up in the late morning and continued into the afternoon. Crude prices turned around later in the session and eventually finished the day lower, providing a further impetus for profit taking in Canadian stocks.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index eventually finished lower by 124.40 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 13,496.90.

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index manged to eke out a slight gain for the day. The index showed losses for much of the session, but rallied into the close. It finished up less than a point at 579.83.

Going into the session, the S&P/TSX Composite had finished higher in two consecutive sessions, reaching its best level of 2016, led by energy and mining stocks.

Oil succumbed to profit taking after adding to gains early in the session. After reaching a three-month intraday high of $41.20 a barrel, crude for April delivery ended the day down $0.76 at $39.44 a barrel.

Gold prices were also lower. Gold for April delivery dropped $10.70 to $1,254.30 an ounce.

The slide in Toronto came despite gains in the U.S. Wall Street finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 120.81 points or 0.7 percent to 17,602.30, the Nasdaq rose 20.66 points or 0.4 percent to 4,795.65 and the S&P 500 advanced 8.97 points or 0.4 percent to 2,049.56.

In Asia, China finished higher on the day, while Japan fell. Europe saw a choppy session, with gains in Germany and France, but a decline in the U.K.