The Toronto stock market was lower Friday afternoon as the TSX had a tepid reaction to stronger-than-expected job creation numbers in Canada and U.S. for May.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the day off 36.03 points to end the week at 12,373.30
The Canadian dollar grew 0.66 cents to 98.09 cents U.S.
Meanwhile, the gold sector was the leading TSX decliner Friday. Gold has fallen sharply since hitting a record high of $1,921 U.S. in early September 2011 at a time when massive stimulus measures by central banks raised worries about a sharp spike in inflation.
Barrick Gold Corp. lost $1.07, or 4.9%, to $20.60.
The base metal group was down while copper fell five cents at $3.27 U.S. a pound and sector heavyweight Teck Resources gave back $1.16, or 4.3%, to $25.60.
The telecom sector was down. The component has headed lower since earlier in the week after Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Mobilicity and other new wireless carriers won't be allowed to sell spectrum to big carriers.
The move was a setback for Telus which had asked permission to acquire Mobilicity and its spectrum. Its shares gave back 25 cents to $34.65.
Tech stocks led advancers with CGI Group ahead 48 cents to $31.45.
Industrials also lent support, as Canadian Pacific Railway advanced 34 cents to $129.14.
Financials also turned positive with Manulife Financial ahead 31 cents to $16.29.
The energy sector was flat as Imperial Oil ran ahead 33 cents to $39.72.
Speaking of things economic, Statistics Canada reported that employment rose by 95,000 in May, with most of the increase in full-time work. This employment gain pushed the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 7.1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stepped back but 0.03 points to 951.40
Even so, eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive to end Friday, led by information technology, gaining 1.1%, utilities, up 0.8%, and industrial stocks, positive by 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold, down 5.3%, materials, sliding 3.6%, and the metals and mining group stumbled 3.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Good, but not great, jobs numbers managed to spark healthy gains on Wall Street Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 207.50 points, or 1.4%, to end the session at 15,248.10
The S&P 500 index climbed 21.67 points to 1,644.23. The tech-rich NASDAQ Composite gained 45.16 points to 3,469.22
Stocks have been volatile recently, as investors grapple with concerns about when the Federal Reserve might start to cut back on its stimulus efforts.
But Friday's gains helped push the major indexes into positive territory for the week. The Dow and S&P 500 were on pace for gains of 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively, while the NASDAQ was on track for a 0.2% uptick. The Dow and S&P 500 are also less than 3% from the record highs they hit last month.
Shares of TiVo plunged almost 20% after the company settled a patent infringement battle with Google's Motorola Mobility unit.
Wal-Mart rose after the world's biggest retailer announced a $15-billion U.S. stock buyback program at its annual shareholder meeting.
Shares of Amazon jumped after the online retailer began selling the Kindle in China.
Samsung shares tumbled in Korea as investors worried about slowing sales of the Galaxy S4 smartphone. Future sales could come under even more pressure if rival Apple announces a trade-in program.
Economically speaking, the U.S. government's monthly report showed that the economy added 175,000 jobs in May, more than the 158,000 economists were expecting. The unemployment rate edged up to 7.6% from 7.5% in April.
The monthly jobs report is always a big focus among investors, and of particular importance as investors question how long the Federal Reserve will continue its bond-buying program as the economy recovers.
Fed chief Ben Bernanke has said that the Fed will begin pulling back on its stimulus monetary policies when the job market shows sustainable improvement.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged a bit, raising yields to 2.16% from Thursday’s 2.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.43 to $96.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $35.30 to $1,380.50 U.S. an ounce
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