Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Fund
Canadian stocks fell a third day, headed for the third weekly decline in four, as commodities producers tumbled with the price of gold and oil.
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. lost 4.9 per cent as the price of iron ore retreated to the lowest in more than six years. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. and Gibson Energy Inc. lost at least 3.2 per cent as oil trimmed its biggest weekly advance in four years. Detour Gold Corp. dropped 2.3 per cent as gold fell for the first time in eight sessions. BlackBerry Ltd. rose 3 percent after posting a surprise profit after cutting costs.
The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 45.61 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 14,824.19 in Toronto. The benchmark equity gauge has lost 0.8 per cent this week.
The loonie weakened, falling by 0.34 of a U.S. cent to 79.85 cents.
Sherritt International Corp. tumbled 3.6 per cent and Tahoe Resources Inc. lost 4.5 per cent as raw-materials producers declined 0.9 percent as a group. Four of 10 industries in the S&P/TSX retreated on trading volume 29 percent lower than the 30-day average.
Bullion for immediate delivery fell 0.5 per cent to $1,198.91 an ounce in London, the first drop in eight sessions. The metal's seven-day rally to Thursday was the longest run of advances since 2012.
TransCanada Corp. declined 1.3 per cent and Surge Energy Inc. fell 2.8 per cent as the S&P/TSX Energy Index retreated 0.5 per cent. Futures slipped 2.6 per cent in New York, bringing crude's gain for the week to 9.6 per cent.
BlackBerry added 3 per cent, the biggest gain in more than two weeks. The former leading smartphone maker, whose global market share has fallen to less than 1 per cent, cut costs such as research and development, with total operating expenses down more than 60 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Wall Street and European stocks edged ahead on Friday but remained en route to a losing week as U.S. Treasury debt yields declined on government data indicating U.S. economic growth was slowing.
Trading in many markets was choppy, with oil dropping back after Thursday's spike on Saudi-led air attacks in Yemen and investors awaiting a speech on monetary policy later on Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
In currency markets, the dollar was mixed as the euro slipped against the dollar to below $1.09, according to Thomson Reuters.
Wall Street's key indices were ahead after the U.S. Commerce Department reported U.S. gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 per cent annual rate in the fourth quarter and after-tax corporate profits had their biggest drop since early 2011. The economy grew at a 5-per-cent rate in the third quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was last up 31.03 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 17,709.26, the S&P 500 was ahead 4.82 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 2,060.97 and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.05 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 4,883.41.
"Yellen will be the big news of the day, certainly, so I don't expect a lot of movement before that," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Ill.
European shares were heading for their biggest weekly fall of the year but were ahead for the day.
The pan European FTSEurofirst 300 of top companies was last up 0.40 percent. For the week the FTSEurofirst 300 was down 1.7 per cent, its worst run since mid-December but only a dent in its 18 percent gains for the past three months.
Asian shares dropped overnight.
In New York, Treasury yields fell on the GDP data, which reinforced opinions and forecasts that the Fed would push back the launch of its first interest rate hike since 2006. Benchmark 10-year notes were last up 12/32 in price to yield 1.97 per cent, down from 2.00 percent late on Thursday.
Yellen's scheduled speech in San Francisco was also curbing trading in the dollar, which posted minor gains against the euro and slipped slightly against the yen and Swiss franc as bullish bets on the long-rising dollar thinned.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, fell 0.085 points or 0.09 per cent, to 97.351. The yen was last down 0.08 per cent, at $119.0900, and the euro at $1.0875, off 0.08 per cent.
Crude oil prices were lower due to the dollar's bounce and as investors reassessed the potential impact of the escalating conflict in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and allies carried out air strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Thursday and Friday.
U.S. crude was down 2.5 per cent at $50.15 a barrel after jumping 4.5 per cent, while Brent was down 2.25 per cent at $57.81.
The Saudi-led operation has not affected the oil facilities of major Gulf producers, but the fear is the conflict could spread and further unsettle the Middle East and disrupt oil shipments.
With files from Reuters and The Canadian Press