The Toronto stock market moved slightly higher Friday morning amid positive job news on both sides of the border.
The S&P/TSX composite index opened Friday ahead a mere 8.5 points to 12,456.18
The Canadian dollar gained 0.63 cents to 102.63 cents U.S.
Like their U.S. counterparts, more Canadians appeared to have found work in September. Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada show that the economy added 52,000 jobs, soundly beating the consensus estimate for a 10,000-jobseeker increase. The labour force rose 72,600 pushing unemployment rate up to 7.4%
What’s more, Statistics Canada says the value of building permits issued in August rose 7.9% to $7.3 billion after a 2.8% drop in July.
The agency says the August increase was due to a 25.2% rise in permits in the non-residential sector with a value of $3.2 billion, the highest level in almost four years.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange improved 3.63 points to 1,344.18
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground at the outset. Metals and mining stocks chugged ahead 0.9%, global base metals 0.6% and industrials 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed by gold, down 0.4%, while energy and materials suffered 0.2% each.
ON WALLSTREET
American equities opened higher Friday following a better-than-expected report on the nation's job market.
The Dow Jones Industrial average jumped 64.01 points to 13,639.40
The S&P 500 took on 7.22 points to 1,468.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 14.42 points to 3,163.88
Shares of social gaming firm Zynga plunged 20%, following the company's announcement that it was lowering its 2012 guidance.
Facebook shares shed more than 3%, a day after company declared one billion people use the social network.
The U.S. Labor Department's monthly report showed employers added 114,000 jobs in September, better than the 110,000 economists had expected. And the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, falling below 8% for the first time since early 2009.
Investors welcomed the jobs data, particularly the decline in the unemployment rate, but remain concerned about the health of the economy.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, spiking yields to 1.72% from Thursday’s 1.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $1.21 to $90.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $11.20 to $1,785.70 U.S. an ounce.
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