Equities markets on both sided of the 49th parallel were quiet Friday ahead of a long weekend in the U.S. Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 3.48 points at 8,347.08. For the week the index gained 1.66%.
U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for Memorial Day.
Acquisition activity among gold miners failed to boost the broader market. Two U.S. mining companies are attempting to kill a merger of Canadian gold miners Wheaton River Minerals and Iamgold with takeover bids.
Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. of Idaho has announced a $2.5 billion stock-and-cash bid for Wheaton River conditional on the termination of the merger accord between Wheaton River and Iamgold. In a separate, coordinated move, Denver’s Golden Star Resources made an all-stock proposal valued at $1.2 billion for Toronto-based Iamgold. Iamgold shares rose 30¢ to $7.68 and Wheaton River climbed 4¢ to $4.
In other sectors, Toronto tech stocks rose 0.94%. ATI gained 4¢ to $22.31 and Open Text advanced $2.06 to $39.06. Energy stocks also rose with Canadian Natural Resources up 50¢ to $35.75 and EnCana climbing 65¢ to $54.15.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 2.92 points to 1,602.10.
On Wall Street, U.S. investors weighed a mixed bag of economic reports. Consumer sentiment dropped unexpectedly in May, however, business activity in the U.S. Midwest beat analyst expectations. Trading was also very light due to the upcoming Memorial Day long weekend.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 16.75 points at 10,188.45. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.65 points to 1,120.63. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 2.24 points to 1,986.74.
Despite the drops in the Dow and S&P 500, both indexes broke a four-week losing streak. The overall week averaged out to gains for each of the major indexes. The Dow added 2.2%. The S&P 500 rose 2.5% and the Nasdaq gained 3.9%.