Roundup: Canadian stock market inches lower amid mixed job data

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Friday moved lower mildly after the newest job data showed that the country's employment increased strongly but the natural resources departments are facing more job losses.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index was down 5.48 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 13,553.30 points.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canada's employment increased by 44,000, or 0.2 percent, in October, bringing the number of people employed in Canada to over 18 million for the first time, but the employment in natural resources continued on the downward trend that began a year ago, falling by 8,000 in October and bringing total job losses in the industry to 26,000, or 6.9 percent, over the past 12 months. Most of the declines were in Alberta.

The energy sector and the mining sectors both followed the losing streak, down 0.59 percent and 0.23 percent, respectively, as Imperial Oil Limited declined 1.93 percent to 43.64 Canadian dollars (about 32.82 U.S. dollars) a share while Goldcorp Inc. plunged 4.24 percent to 15.34 Canadian dollars per share.

The employment picture varies across the country, with the greatest deterioration over the past year seen in oil and gas producing provinces.

Leslie Preston, an economist from TD Bank, said: "given the softer tone in recent surveys of hiring intentions, we do expect employment gains to slow in the coming months, leading to a gradual decline in the unemployment rate."

Telecom, which went down 0.82 percent, logged the biggest loss by percentage as its leading company Rogers Communications Inc. lost 1.02 percent to 52.47 Canadian dollars a share.

Gains driven by some non-resources sectors helped reduce the losses in the index when Health Care rebounded 1.34 percent and the financial sector was also higher 0.93 percent.

On the currency front, investors' speculation about a possible appreciation of the U.S. dollar following a potential interest rates lift by the U.S. Federal Reserve brought further losses to other major currencies Friday, with the Canadian dollar sharply down to 0.7521 U.S. dollar, when compared with 0.7594 U.S. dollar Thursday. Endit