Toronto Stocks Slip; Novagold Resources Shares Fall After Week of Highs From Alaskan Gold Project Acquisition

By Adriano Marchese

Toronto-listed stocks were pared back midday Friday, as most sectors push the trend lower. Communications was the main decliner of the session, followed by transportation and health tech. Of the few gainers, consumer durables posted the highest gains, followed more distantly by tech services and process industries.

On the broader economic front, Canadian shoppers stepped up their spending last month, driving retail sales 0.7% in March, defying worries about the expected fallout from a global trade war and a weakening job market. In February, they had fallen 0.4%.

Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4% to 24619.99 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 declined by 0.4% to 1478.66.

Novagold Resources shares fell sharply, and were recently over 11% lower at 6.10 Canadian dollars ($4.40), as investors pared back from the week's highs, propelled by its acquisition of an Alaskan gold project for as much as $1.1 billion with affiliates of billionaire John Paulson's Paulson Advisers. The stock is still up 43% since announcing the acquisition on Tuesday.

Write to Adriano Marchese at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-25-25 1224ET