Roundup: Canadian stock market regains momentum over upbeat job data, Greece optimism

Canada's main stock market in Toronto rebounded Friday with a solid rally, boosted by better- than-expected domestic job data and optimism about the bailout program for Greece debt crisis.

Bouncing up from a two-day straight dive, Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index jumped 132.58 points or 0.93 percent to 14,411.07 points, when most sectors were in the rising streak but resources shares.

The index gained momentum as the latest upbeat job data stimulated the trading sentiment, after Statistics Canada reported in Friday morning that the unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent for the fifth consecutive month, while 6,400 jobs were lost in June, which is better than expected, since economists were expecting a loss of about 10,000 positions.

Meanwhile, the market was also pushed up when Greece submitted a detailed reform proposals to Eurogroup on Thursday night, aiming to avoid a possible Greek default and a "Grexit"- Greece's exit from the eurozone, after the debt-shattered country formally requested a three-year loan from the bailout fund of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on Wednesday.

Gains were seen across all the major TSX sectors when financials, the most influential mover, rose 1.31 percent as Royal Bank of Canada advanced 1.46 percent to 76.58 Canadian dollars ( about 60.4 U.S. dollars) and Manulife Financial Corp. soared 2.25 percent to 23.14 Canadian dollars.

Healthcare shares, up 2.13 percent, logged the biggest increase by percent, when Canada's biggest drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International rallied 3.96 percent to 294.64 Canadian dollars.

Info tech moved up 1.63 percent with Constellation Software Inc. jumping 5.17 percent to 520.77 Canadian dollars.

Industrials advanced 1.29 percent when Canadian National Railway Company was up 1.66 percent to 72.94 Canadian dollars. But Bombardier Inc. extended losses and dropped one percent to 1.98 Canadian dollars after the Canadian aircraft and railway maker hit the lowest share price Thursday in almost 22 years.

Other gainers included utilities and telecom, up 1.54 percent and 1.01 percent respectively.

By contrast, resources shares were in the negative territory when the energy sector was down 0.55 percent and the mining sector inched 0.02 percent lower when the commodities prices were weighed on Friday.

On the economic beat, investors will be looking for new clues from next rate decision which will be announced by Bank of Canada on next Wednesday.

According to Brian DePratto, an economist from TD Bank, the latest job data "does not change our view that the economic growth is likely to have contracted by between 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent in the second quarter, and is significantly under- performing the central bank's forecast detailed in April. As a result, we continue to expect that the Bank (Bank of Canada) is likely to reduce the policy rate to 0.50 percent on Wednesday from 0.75 percent currently."

On the currency front, stimulated by the upbeat job data, the Canadian dollar moved higher Friday to 0.7887 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.7870 U.S. dollar on Thursday. Endite