|
TORONTO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market in Toronto perked higher Friday as investors shrugged off dismal Canadian employment figures and embraced stronger U.S. jobs data.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 119.99 point, or 0.83 percent, to close at 14,648.77 points. All of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher.
Oil prices moved down Friday, as a stronger U.S. dollar dented investor sentiment, which made the dollar-denominated oil less attractive for holders of other currencies.
Texas light sweet crude for September delivery fell 13 cents to settle at 41.80 U.S. dollars a barrel in New York, while Brent crude for October delivery lost 2 cents to close at 44.27 dollars a barrel in London.
TSX energy led a broad advance with a 1.36 percent rise, as Encana Corporation rose 2.04 percent to 11.0 Canadian dollars (8.36 U.S. dollars) and Baytex Energy Corp. went up 1.64 percent to 6.18 Canadian dollars.
Magna International Inc. jumped 5.44 percent to 52.57 Canadian dollars after the automotive supplier reported profit topping expectations and raised its earnings forecast.
Bombardier Inc. fell 0.50 percent to 1.98 Canadian dollars after reporting a slightly bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.
Canadian National Railway advanced 1.47 percent to 81.54 Canadian dollars and rival Canadian Pacific Railway advanced 1.74 percent to 189.85 Canadian dollars.
Barrick Gold slumped 3.95 percent to 27.97 Canadian dollars, Goldcorp Inc. lost 2.25 percent to 22.98 Canadian dollars, and Kinross Gold declined 3.07 percent to 6.95 Canadian dollars.
Sierra Wireless tumbled 18.21 percent to 18.33 Canadian dollars as a string of analysts cut their price targets on the stock after the company lowered its full-year outlook.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that, after three months of little change, employment declined by 31,000, or 0.2 percent, in July. The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 6.9 percent. The Canadian economy was expected to have added 10,000 jobs in July.
The agency also reported that Canada's imports increased 0.8 percent to 45.0 billion Canadian dollars in June. Exports were up 0.6 percent to 41.4 billion Canadian dollars. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world widened from 3.5 billion Canadian dollars in May to a record 3.6 billion Canadian dollars in June.
The Canadian dollar traded lower at 0.7596 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing rate of 0.7679 U.S. dollar.
