The Toronto stock market was little changed Friday amid lower prices for oil and metals and a mixed run of earnings news from the United States.
The S&P/TSX composite index shed 14.18 points to 12,366.5 while the TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.05 points to 1,553.15.
The Canadian dollar was lower as new data showed a much lower inflation reading in December.
The loonie was down 0.24 of a cent to 98.63 cents (U.S.) after inflation fell sharply last month, down 0.6 per cent from November to an annualized rate of just 2.3 per cent.
Analysts had expected prices to cool in December due to Christmas season sales, but not by this much. The consensus was for a 0.4 per cent falloff.
"Soggy consumer confidence clearly prompted some heavy duty price cuts in discretionary goods." said BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist Doug Porter.
"The bottom line is quite straightforward — this year's holiday shopping season saw incredibly intense discounting, and almost across the board. Even the auto dealers got into the act.
U.S. markets were mainly lower with the Dow Jones industrials ahead 16.57 points to 12,640.55.
The Nasdaq composite index was down 7.7 points to 2,780.63 and the S&P 500 index dipped 2.34 points to 1,312.16.
Industrial conglomerate General Electric said Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 18 per cent to $3.73-billion (U.S.). Excluding discontinued businesses and certain pension costs, earnings were 39 cents a share, a penny better than estimates. But revenue came in at $37.97-billion, below Wall Street's $40.05-billion (U.S.) estimate and shares fell 44 cents to $18.71.
Search engine Google was also a disappointment as net income edged up just six per cent from the same October-December period in 2010, coming off year-over-year increases of more than 25 per cent in each of the previous two quarters.
Revenue totalled $10.6-billion, up from $8.4-billion in the previous year. It's the first time Google's quarterly revenue topped $10-billion, but even that figure fell shy of analyst projections and its shares fell $49.37 or 7.2 per cent to $590.20 (U.S.).
And IBM Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings handily beat Wall Street's expectations on Thursday, coming in at $5.49-billion (U.S.), helped by higher revenue and profit margins in the technology icon's lucrative software and services segments. It shares rose 2.62 per cent in pre-market trading. Its shares gained $4.83 to $185.35 (U.S.).
Meanwhile, oil prices continued to lose ground as signs of economic improvement in the U.S. and Europe were tempered by a rise in gasoline stocks, which suggests weaker demand for crude.
The energy sector was down 0.32 per cent as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped $1.19 to $99.20 (U.S.) a barrel. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) lost 24 cents to $39.08 (CAN).
The base metals sector fell 1.63 per cent as metal prices also backed away with March copper down two cents to $3.78 (U.S.) a pound. But prices for the metal, viewed as an economic bellwether because it is used in so many businesses, have jumped about four per cent this week after Chinese growth for the fourth quarter came in better than expected. China is the world's biggest consumer of copper and the data raised hopes that Chinese authorities would loosen lending requirements to encourage growth.
HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) gave back 16 cents to $11.32 (CAN).
The gold sector dipped 0.16 per cent as the February gold contract on the Nymex lost $1.30 to $1,653.20 (U.S.) an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) was down 23 cents to $46.74 (CAN).
The telecom sector provided some relief as BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) rose 14 cents to $42.18.
Traders also kept an eye on debt-reduction talks between Greece and its private creditors that could determine whether Europe's debt crisis flares up again.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met for a third day with negotiators from the Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors who are being asked to take a loss on their bondholdings to lighten Greece's debt load by $100-billion (CAN).
An agreement is needed if Greece is to get the next batch of bailout cash that would prevent a devastating debt default — Greece does not have enough money to cover a $14.5-billion (CAN) bond repayment in March.
European markets were weak with London's FTSE 100 index off 0.01 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX dipped 0.11 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 were down 0.42 per cent.
Earlier in Asia in the last trading day before Chinese New Year holidays begin Monday, the Shanghai Composite Index climbed one per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.5 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.8 per cent and South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.8 per cent to 1,949.89.