Toronto's main stock index wavered on both sides of the breakeven point early Friday, as lingering worries about a possible Greek exit from the euro-zone offset firmer commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 13.92 points to begin Friday at 11,552.15.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.11 to 97.32 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch this morning, Enbridge Inc. said on Thursday shippers on its Ozark and Spearhead crude oil pipelines had overbooked capacity for June.
Garda World Security Corp. rose 5.2% in Friday's first hour after it released upbeat first-quarter results. Earnings rose 39 per cent over last year, to $6.3-million or 20 cents a share, well ahead of the 16 cents a share expected by analysts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 0.36 points to 1,282.11, while the Nasdaq Canada forged ahead 2.12 points to 363.99.
Of the 14 Toronto subgroups, eight were higher, led by gold, up 1.1%, information technology, ahead 1%, and materials, up 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by a 0.7% loss in the financials sector, while industrials dipped 0.4%. and global base metals were 0.2% to the bad.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks opened mixed Friday as anxiety over Europe persisted and investors prepared for a holiday weekend. Markets in the U.S. are shuttered Monday for Memorial Day.
The Dow Jones Industrials began Friday down 25.43 points to 12,504.32
The S&P 500 inched forward 0.22 points to 1,320.90. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave back 5.52 points to 2,833.86
Facebook shares eased after gaining 3% on Thursday, as the company continues to deal with the fallout from its bungled IPO last week. The offering has prompted concern from regulators and lawsuits from investors who say they were denied access to privileged information ahead of the stock's debut.
Investors on both sides of the Atlantic are worried about the Spanish banking crisis and the failure of European leaders to come up with any good solutions, especially concerning Greece and its possibility of leaving the euro-zone.
Signs that the Spanish banking crisis is worsening weighed on investors. Trading was halted on the Madrid stock exchange for shares of Bankia, the nation's fourth-largest bank, as the bank's board prepares a bailout request from Spain's central bank to fund a recapitalization.
On the economic slate, the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for the month of May is expected to come in at 77.5, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com, down from 77.8 in April.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a bit of ground, lowering the yield to 1.75% from Thursday's 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil was ahead 18 cents to $90.78 U.S.
Gold futures for June delivery rose $4.90 to $1,562 U.S. an ounce.
