TSX Extends Recent Losses, Ends Lower Again

(RTTNews) - After swinging between gains and losses in a tight range early on in the session, the Canadian stock market slipped and stayed weak to eventually close on a negative note on Friday.

Investors were a bit uncertain about the market's near term direction, as they digested a stronger than expected Canadian jobs report and data showing a much smaller than expected growth in U.S. employment in September.

Concerns about the likely impact of U.S.-China trade dispute on the global economy, sluggish crude oil prices and the possibility of another rate hike from Bank of Canada rendered the market weak.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 60.50 points, or 0.38%, at 15,946.17, after scaling a high of 16,028.04 and a low of 15,895.50 intraday.

On Thursday, the index ended down 65.38 points, or 0.41%, at 16,006.67. The index scaled a high of 16,057.68 and a low of 15,928.16 in the session.

Energy, information technology and consumer staples stocks were among the notable losers. Financial and real estate stocks too were weak, while healthcare and industrials stocks advanced.

The Capped Energy Index declined by 1.45%. Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Encana Corporation (ECA.TO), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO), Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET.TO), Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.TO), ARC Resources (ARX.TO) and PrairieSky Royalty (PSK.TO) lost 1 to 2%.

Among IT stocks, Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) lost 3.47%. Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) declined by 1.7%, BlackBerry (BB.TO) ended 2.3% down and Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) declined by 1% to 2%.

In the consumer staples space, George Weston (WN.TO) declined by nearly 2.2%, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO) and Empire Company (EPA.TO) also ended notably lower. Among bank stocks, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) declined by 0.3-4%.

Precision Drilling Corp. (PD.TO) said it will buy Trinidad Drilling Ltd. (TDG.TO) in exchange for shares. Precision will also assume $477 million in debt. Upon closure of the deal, Trinidad shareholders will own about 29% of Precision. Precision Drilling corp declined 3.2%, while Trinidad Drilling shares gained nearly 9%.

Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO), Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG.TO) and Crones Group Inc. (CRON) declined by 3 to 5%. Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) shares climbed up 5.4%,

On the economic front, data released by Statistics Canada showed employment climbed by 63,000 jobs in September in Canada. Economists had expected an increase of 25,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in Canada was down 5.9% in the month.

The U.S. market ended notably lower, despite trimming down a significant portion of early losses. Rising treasury yields contributed to the market's decline.

The U.S. Labor Department's data showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment climbed by 134,000 jobs in September, much less than an expected an increase of about 185,000 jobs.

Despite the weaker than expected job growth, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in September from 3.9% in August. The unemployment rate had been expected to edge down to 3.8%.

According to data released by the Commerce Department, U.S. trade deficit widened in August, reflecting an increase in imports and a decrease in exports. The data said the trade deficit widened to $53.2 billion in August from a revised $50.0 billion in July. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $53.5 billion.

Major European markets ended notably lower. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.4%, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.1% and 1%, respectively.

In economic news from Europe, Germany's factory orders rebounded on foreign demand in August, figures published by Destatis revealed. The data showed factory orders grew by more-than-expected 2% month on month in August, reversing a 0.9% drop in July.

U.K. house prices dropped unexpectedly in September, data from the Lloyds bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed. House prices decreased 1.4% in September from August, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.2%.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for U.S. interest rates and on reports that China secretly inserted surveillance microchips into servers used by Apple and Amazon. Investors were also looking ahead to the U.S. jobs report.

In commodities, crude oil futures for November ended at $74.34 a barrel, gaining a penny.

Gold futures for December ended up $4.00, or 0.3%, at $1,205.60 an ounce.

Silver futures for December settled at $14.649 an ounce, gaining $0.059 for the session. Copper futures for December ended down $0.0145, at $2.7630 per pound.