Roundup: Canadian stock market ends flat despite rising jobs data from Canada, U.S.

Canada's main stock market in Toronto closed little changed Friday in spite of the growth of a jobs market indicating strength of recovery.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index lost 2.76 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 12,445.45 points. Five of the TSX index's eight main sectors rebounded to positive territory.

Energy sector managed to rise, moving slightly up 0.23 percent, although still under pressure of falling oil prices. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. increased 2.72 percent to 44.89 Canadian dollars (about 31.67 U.S. dollars) a share. Canadian Natural Resources Limited fell 0.84 percent to 27.30 Canadian dollars a share.

Financial stocks were among the biggest advancers, with the group going up 0.07 percent overall and Manulife Financial Corporation adding 0.80 percent to 19.01 Canadian dollars a share.

After back-to-back declines for over a week, the TSX surged in early Friday opening to welcome the encouraging news from jobs market, where Statistics Canada reported that the economy added an unexpected 23,000 jobs in December, keeping the unemployment rate at 7.1 percent.

"While the details were on the soft side, the decent headline increase and encouraging gain in manufacturing suggest that recent pessimism over the Canadian economy might be a bit overdone, maybe," said BMO economist Benjamin Reitzes.

Positive surprise also came from U.S. jobs data. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 292,000 in December, also better than expected, and unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department Friday.

But a combination of that upbeat data wasn't enough to reverse the downward market trend. "Given the recent market uncertainty and the fact that bank economists cannot even come close to figuring out this number, we could see enhanced volatility around the release," said Michael J Smith, a Toronto currency expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services.

China's equity markets have calmed down after a frenzied week, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index moving up 1.97 percent Friday, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced that the stock market "circuit breaker" mechanism would be suspended the day before.

Meanwhile, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz says the country is on track for slow job growth, but also expects a growing divergence between a weakening resource sector and a slowly recovering export economy.

Poloz insists the low Canadian dollar is already sparking a realignment as the country's growth engine shifts from the commodities sector to the non-commodities part of the economy. The new divergence within the Canadian economy can be compared to a slow healing process after a major injury, which could take up to five years, Poloz said.

The Canadian dollar was traded lower at 0.7068 U.S. dollar, compared with Thursday's closing at 0.7094 U.S. dollar. Endit