Canadian Stocks Pull Back Off Early Highs But Remain Positive

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in session, Canadian stocks gave back ground but still managed to close modestly higher on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the day up 60.53 points or 0.3 percent at 20,226.11, well off its intraday high of 20,338.45.

The early rally on Bay Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing stronger than expected U.S. job growth in the month of June.

The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 850,000 jobs in June after surging by an upwardly revised 583,000 jobs in May.

Economists had expected employment to jump by about 700,000 jobs compared to the addition of 559,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate unexpectedly inched up to 5.9 percent in June from 5.8 percent in May. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 5.7 percent.

While buying interest waned over the course of the session, consumer staples stocks held on to strong gains, with the S&P/TSX Capped Consumer Staples Index jumping by 1.3 percent.

Gold and real estate stocks also saw some strength on the day, but healthcare stocks moved sharply lower, dragging the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index down by 2.5 percent.

In Canadian economic news, Statistics Canada released a report showing the country's trade balance swung to a deficit of C$1.4 billion in May from a surplus of C$462 million in April.

The shift in the trade balance came as imports surged up by 1.2 percent, while exports tumbled by 1.6 percent.

A separate report showed the value of building permits plunged a record C$1.6 billion or 14.8 percent in May following four consecutive months of reaching new highs.