Oil and gas stocks helped shore up the Toronto stock index on Friday, though shares in Canadian grocery retailers dropped sharply in the wake of Amazon’s blockbuster deal to buy Whole Foods Market.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 32.12 points to 15,192.54, despite losses of nearly 1.5 per cent in the consumer staples sector. The energy sector led advancers on the TSX, up nearly one per cent.

Experts say Amazon’s US$13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods poses a threat to Canada’s grocers and could shake up the supermarket industry.

Read more: Amazon is buying Whole Foods in bold move into brick-and-mortar retail

“This is just a continuation of Amazon and some of the technology that they own that’s going to continue to be disruptive,” said Scott Vali, vice-president of equities at CIBC Asset Management.

“This gives them a foothold in the grocery business, which people thought would take them much longer to build out. ... They just continue to reach new parts of the economy and show the dominance of their distribution and supply chain.”

At the close, shares of Loblaw tumbled $2.70 or 3.58 per cent to $72.79, while Metro shed $1.29 or 2.9 per cent to $43.16. Empire, the parent of Sobeys, gave back 70 cents or 3.6 per cent to $18.74.

The base metals sector was another leading decliner on the TSX, as shares of Teck Resources extended its losses for a second day in a row — closing down $1.85 or 8.57 per cent lower to $19.73.

Teck, the largest North American producer of steelmaking coal, said Thursday it expects to realize an average price for the commodity about 15 per cent lower than the quarterly benchmark price.

“The guidance was below what most were anticipating,” said Vali. “We’re in a market where investors are relatively short-sighted and I’d say when there’s disappointment they react quickly.”

South of the border, the S&P 500 index eked out 0.69 of a point to 2,433.15 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 13.74 points to 6,151.76. The Dow Jones industrial average added 24.38 points to 21,384.28, a record high.

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The Canadian dollar was up 0.29 of a cent to an average trading price of 75.57 cents US.

In commodities, the July crude contract advanced 29 cents at US$44.97 per barrel while the July natural gas contract was down two cents at US$3.04 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract was up US$1.90 to US$1,256.50 an ounce and the July copper contract was unchanged at US$2.56 a pound.

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