July 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was set to fall for the fifth session on Friday following a sharp escalation in U.S.-China trade row that renewed worries over slowing global growth and sparked a flight to safer assets.
* At 9:55 a.m. ET (13:55 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 28.99 points, or 0.18%, at 16,348.05.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1, escalating a bruising and protracted clash between the world's two biggest economies. China said on Friday it would take countermeasures. Seven of the TSX's 11 major sectors were in the red.
* The energy sector .SPTTEN dropped 0.5% while the materials sector .GSPTTMT , which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.8%.
* The heavyweight financials sector .SPTTFS slipped 0.3% and the industrials sector .GSPTTIN saw a similar fall.
* U.S. crude CLc1 prices were up 3.2% a barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 added 3.6%, recovering from their sharpest fall in years. O/R
* Meanwhile, investors flocked to the safety of the bullion, sending gold futures GCc1 1.2% higher to $1,437.8 an ounce. GOL/ MET/L
* On the TSX, 83 issues were higher, while 143 issues declined for a 1.72-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 33.68 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Aphria Inc APHA.TO , which jumped 27.5% after the cannabis producer posted better-than-expected fourth quarter revenue. The second biggest gainer was Hexo Corp HEXO.TO , up 4.8%.
* Open Text Corp OTEX.TO fell 6.9%, the most on the TSX, after it posted fourth-quarter results.
* The second biggest decliner was CannTrust Holdings Inc TRST.TO , down 5.6% after the marijuana producer said the Ontario Securities Commission had opened an investigation into the company. The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aphria Inc, Aurora Cannabis ACB.TO and Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO .
* The TSX posted 11 new 52-week highs and seven new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 36 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows, with total volume of 49.97 million shares.