Roundup: Canadian stock market ends week flat after poor job data

Canada's main stock market in Toronto had little change on Friday, after January's employment data was worse than predicted.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 10.51 points, or 0.08 percent, to 12,763.99 points. Seven of the eight sub-sectors fluctuated less than one percent.

The trading session began with the release of the monthly Labour Force Survey that saw unemployment in January rise to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent in December.

The report also indicated that 5,700 jobs were lost during the month, compared to analysts' forecast of 6,000 jobs being created. Ontario was one of three provinces to experience increases, with 19,800 jobs added. On the other end, Alberta saw 10,000 jobs lost during January, more than any other province.

Diana Petramala, an economist at TD Bank believes that the poor data will continue before stabilizing.

"With oil prices failing to gain traction this year, the economic and job losses are expected to continue to mount in oil-producing provinces such as Alberta, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan," said Petramala in a TD Economics report.

"Canada has a flexible work force and we expect people will leave the beleaguered provinces for better job prospects elsewhere. Migration flows are expected to put a ceiling on unemployment rates in oil-producing regions, but also put a floor under the unemployment rate among the better performing provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia," she said.

Meanwhile, employment data released south of the border was positive, as the rate of unemployment in the United States reached an 8-year low of 4.9 percent.

The TSX Information Technology sector was hit the hardest on the day, falling four percent. Waterloo-based Blackberry saw stocks drop 2.95 percent to 9.87 Canadian dollars (7.1 U.S. dollars) a share after announcing plans to lay off 200 employees at its Waterloo headquarters and Miami manufacturing facility.

Sierra Wireless saw stocks plummet 24.50 percent to 15.22 Canadian dollars (10.94 U.S. dollars) after fourth quarter earnings fell short of expectations.

Gold contact prices rose 17.00 U.S. dollars to 1,173.27 an ounce, prompting gold miners to see double-digit gains on the day. Royal Gold Inc. saw a 10.98 percent jump to 54.60 Canadian dollars (39.29 U.S. dollars) a share, while Kinross Gold Corporation saw shares rocketed 14.23 percent to 1.49 Canadian dollars (1.07 U.S.dollars).

On another positive note, Intermap Technologies Corporation saw stocks soar 81.40 percent to 0.39 Canadian dollars (0.28 U.S. dollars) a share after the CEO announced the signing of an infrastructure contact valued at 175 million U.S. dollars.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap is a leading provider of location-based solutions for government and commercial customers. The contract is expected to last 12 years.

The Canadian dollar lost 1.15 percent to end the week at 0.7190 U.S. dollar, compared to Thursday's closing rate of 0.7274 U.S. dollar. Endi