Canada's main stock index dipped on Friday as financial and natural resource shares lost ground, while concerns about escalating geopolitical tensions after U.S. missile strikes in Syria prompted a risk-off sentiment among investors.

The banking sector fell 0.2 per cent as Canada's 10-year government bond yield touched 1.505 per cent, its lowest in four months.

Higher bond yields would reduce the value of insurance companies' liabilities and increase net interest margins of banks.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) was the biggest drag on the Toronto market, down 0.8 per cent at $78.11, followed by Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), which declined 0.5 per cent to $97.32.

Traders were focused on the political environment after the United States launched cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base. Russia warned on Friday that the move could have "extremely serious" consequences.

"Markets have been fairly complacent on the risk side," said Youssef Zohny, international client advisor at the StennerZohny Group of Morgan Stanley.

"So any sort of headline or geopolitical risk, I would say the market is more sensitive to some of those effects."

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index finished down 30.05 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 15,667.13.

Six of the index's 10 main groups were lower. Even with Friday's small decline, the TSX ended the week up 0.8 per cent, its second consecutive week of gains.

Despite higher commodity prices, both the energy and materials sectors weighed on the index on Friday and were down 0.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) declined 0.9 per cent to $25.64 after Argentinian mining officials told the company it must overhaul environmental and operating processes at its Veladero mine following last week's cyanide solution spill.

Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Canada's fourth-biggest lender, said Chief Operating Officer Darryl White will step up to be chief executive in November, succeeding Bill Downe who will retire. The bank's shares edged up 0.3 per cent at $100.23.

Investors will start to turn their attention toward earnings season, with some corporate results coming out of the United States next week, said Zohny.

Given that stock valuations and earnings expectations have risen, there is a downside risk to the market in the near term unless a strong catalyst emerges, he said.

The market is up 2.5 per cent for the year so far, extending the hefty 17.5 per cent gain it saw in 2016.

U.S. MARKETS

Wall Street's three major indexes edged lower on Friday in a choppy session as investors grappled with a weaker-than-expected job report, the U.S. airstrike in Syria and a top Federal Reserve official's comments on trimming the U.S. central bank's balance sheet.

Investors were trying to work out how the developments would affect U.S. President Donald Trump's ability to proceed with his pro-business agenda.

The market rallied sharply after Trump's Nov. 8 election on his promises for tax cuts, spending and lighter regulation, but investors increasingly have been questioning whether the proposals would ever materialize.

"You had so many confusing things happening today. The employment number was certainly surprising. The U.S. airstrike was surprising. People were trying to figure out what that meant," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 6.85 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 20,656.1, the S&P 500 lost 1.95 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 2,355.54 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.14 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 5,877.81.

All three indexes ended slightly lower for the week. Six of the S&P's 11 major sectors ended down on the day.

U.S. employers added about 98,000 jobs in March, the fewest since last May and well below economists' expectation of 180,000, as bad weather hit construction hiring. However, wage growth edged up and unemployment fell.

New York Fed President William Dudley on Friday shed more light on the U.S. central bank's developing plan for when to stop replacing bonds that expire in its portfolio, how to execute it, and how far it would ultimately shrink its balance sheet.

U.S. Treasury yields rose after Dudley's remarks, which helped push equities lower, according to Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer, Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions, at Voya Investment Management in New York.

LibertyView's Meckler said Dudley's remarks were not earth-shattering but "small statements are having a magnified affect because investors are worried."

The United States, in a pre-dawn strike, fired missiles at an airfield from which it said a deadly poison gas attack was launched this week.

In the coming days it "will be interesting to watch to see if [Syria] does grab more attention from the White House and delay some of these other issues and programs they are trying to get passed through here," said Sean Lynch, co-head of global equity strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in Omaha, Nebraska said.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.11-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows. The Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 46 new lows.

About 5.97 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges on Friday compared with the 6.75 billion average for the last 20 sessions.