Canada's commodity-heavy benchmark index began Friday rising modestly
The S&P/TSX Composite Index regained 45.44 points to 12,407.25.
The Canadian dollar staggered 0.34 cents at 99.73 cents U.S.
Commodity producers showed some strength, with Suncor Energy Inc. up 0.5% and Barrick Gold Corp. up 1%.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported that the country's inflation rate rose to 2.6% in February. Even after stripping out volatile food and energy items, the rate rose 2.3%, which is above the Bank of Canada's target.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 7.51 points to 1,548.26, while the Nasdaq Canada index subsided 0.73 to 410.02
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were ahead by mid-morning. Gold gained 1.6%, while materials advanced 1.1% and energy stocks inched up 0.2%.
The five laggards were weighed by health-care, down 0.3%, industrials, down 0.2%, and consumer staples, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks opened flat Friday as investors await one final housing report to end a week that has seen markets retreat amid fears of slower growth in China.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 19.34 points to begin the session at 13,026.80
The S&P 500 faltered 3.65 points to 1,389.13, while the Nasdaq subtracted 14.23 points to 3,049.09
The S&P 500 is down 0.8% on the week, and a lackluster performance Friday could solidify the index's first weekly loss since early February.
Darden Restaurants, which operates chains such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden, posted quarterly earnings of $1.25 a share on $2.16 billion U.S. in revenue, slightly better than analysts had expected.
Shares of homebuilder KB Home plummeted 11%, after the company reported a loss of 59 cents per share, more than double analysts' expectations. The company also fell short of expectations in reporting $254 million U.S. in revenue.
BATS Global Markets, an equities and options exchange operator, will start trading Friday after pricing its initial public offering at $16 U.S., the low end of its estimated range.
Bank of America Corp. and General Electric Co. fell 0.4% each. Cisco Systems Inc. rose 0.5% but Dell Inc. fell 3.3%
Nike Inc., which reported a 7% gain in its earnings when it reported quarterly results on Thursday evening, fell 4.1%.
In matters economic, new home sales for February came in at an annual rate of 313,000 come below the 323,000 forecast by analysts, and down from a rate of 321,000 in January.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, pushing the yield lower to 2.22% from 2.28% Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for May delivery regained $1.54 to $106.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $14.80 to $1,656.70 U.S. an ounce.
