MONTREAL - Valeant Pharmaceuticals shares hit an all-time high Friday amid reports that it is in talks to expand its eye-care business by buying Bausch and Lomb.

TORONTO - The Royal Bank (TSX:RY), which faced a fierce backlash earlier this year over an outsourcing arrangement involving the use of temporary foreign workers, said Friday it won't send work offshore just to save on salaries.

TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange:

TORONTO - The Toronto Stock Exchange closed slightly ahead Friday, pulled down by declines in most sectors, particularly gold, but boosted by a 13 per cent spike in shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International.

By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index reversed earlier losses on Friday after several stocks jumped on takeover moves, helping the TSX shrug off uncertainty over U.S. central bank monetary policy that hurt U.S. indices. Shares in Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc jumped more than 13 percent …

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The price of oil fell two per cent this week as oil traders worried about global demand and shared the stock market's concerns about possible changes to the U.S. Federal Reserve's economic stimulus program.

VALLENAR, Chile - Chile's environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.'s US$8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project on Friday and imposed its maximum fine on the world's largest gold miner, citing "very serious" violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done …

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX:L) filed a preliminary prospectus Friday aimed at creating one of Canada's largest commercial real estate trusts including some 75 per cent of the company's real estate assets.

Teen clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch sales cratered last quarter, and stock for the American chain has sold off sharply as a result.

LONGUEUIL, Que. - Quebec-based aerospace company Heroux-Devtek Inc. (TSX:HRX) has reported lower fourth-quarter profit.

BANGKOK - The price of oil was knocked lower Friday by a combination of ample supplies and lukewarm demand.

MONTREAL - Genivar has unveiled a strategic plan to more than double its size even as the big consulting engineering firm acknowledged that ethical lapses have undermined employee morale.

CALGARY - A senior TransCanada Corp. executive says the resistance to the approval of the proposed Keystone XL oilsands pipeline has made the company more cautious about future cross-border endeavours.

MONTREAL - BTB Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:BTB.UN) said Thursday that one of its subsidiaries has sold a property in Quebec for $2,375,000.