Most actively traded companies on the TSX

Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (16,207.32, down 16.81 points).

RNC Minerals. (TSX:RNX). Metals. Up 59 cents, or 105.4 per cent, to $1.15 on 71.5 million shares.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB). Health care. Up 43 cents, or 3.63 per cent, to $12.27 on 33.4 million shares.

Wallbridge Mining Co. Ltd. (TSX:WM). Metals. Up six cents, or 25 per cent, to 30 cents on 13.1 million shares.

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX:BTE). Energy Up 37 cents, or 10.7 per cent, to $3.83 on 12.2 million shares.

Nemaska Lithium Inc. (TSX:NMX). Base Metals. Up seven cents, or nine per cent, to 85 cents on 10.9 million shares.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX). Gold. Up 78 cents, or 5.77 per cent, to $14.30 on 7.1 million shares.

Companies reporting major news:

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX). Gold. Up 78 cents, or 5.77 per cent, to $14.30 on 7.1 million shares. Barrick has agreed to take over Randgold Resources in an all-share deal worth about $7.9 billion that will solidify its position as the world’s biggest gold producer after years of cutbacks. Randgold investors will receive 6.128 Barrick shares for each of their shares to own about a third of a new Barrick group with some $12.5 billion in revenue and an expected $23.7 billion market capitalization.

Empire Co. Ltd. (TSX:EMP.A). Up 57 cents or 2.5 per cent to $23.26. The parent company of grocery chain Sobeys Inc. says it has reached a deal to acquire food retailer Farm Boy in a bid to expand its reach in Ontario. Empire says the acquisition, which values the Ontario-based chain of grocery stores at $800 million, includes 26 Farm Boy locations in the province. Empire says the deal will allow it to speed up its growth in markets like Toronto and southwestern Ontario, with new sites and the conversion of some existing Sobeys locations.