Canadian Market Turns Weak, Down Marginally In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market drifted down into negative territory around early afternoon on Thursday, after staying modestly above the flat line earlier thanks to strong gains in materials, real estate and select technology stocks.

Investors digested the crucial U.S. non-farm payrolls data for the month of June, in addition to closely following the developments with regard to U.S.-Iran peace efforts.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which advanced to 35,110.05 earlier, was down 12.71 points or 0.04% at 34,844.28 a little while ago.

The Materials Capped Index gained 2.3%. Ssr Mining, up 8.1%, was the top gainer in the index. Discovery Silver Corp., B2Gold Corp, Aris Mining Corporation, Wesdome Gold Mines, Seabridge Gold, Torex Gold Resources, Eldorado Gold, Lundin Gold, Nova Gold Resources and Skeena Resources gained 6%-7.5%.

The Real Estate Capped index moved up 2.35%. Colliers International climbed 5.7%, while Interrent Real Estate, Altus Group, Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, Allied Properties, CDN Apartments and Granite Real Estate Investment gained 2.7%-4%.

Technology stocks Shopify, Constellation Software and Descartes Systems Group moved up 5.4%, 4.8% and 4.5%, respectively. Open Text Corporation, Computer Modelling, CGI Inc., Docebo, Lightspeed Commerce, Kinaxis and Enghouse Systems gained 2.5%-4%.

Among the major losers, Gran Tierra Energy, BlackBerry, Celestica and Ballard Power Systems shed 8.6%-9.2%.

BRP, Cameco, Algonquin Power & Utilities, Enerflex, Magna International, Linamar, Badger Infrastructure Solutions, Finning International, Baytex Energy, Ritchie Bros., Ivanhoe Mines, Hudbay Minerals, Northland Power and Ero Copper drifted down 3.5%-6%.

In Canadian economic news, data from S&P Global showed the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI held at 53.0 in June, little changed from 52.9 in May, pointing to a third straight month of solid expansion in factory activity.

In U.S. economic news, data from the Labor Department showed non-farm payroll employment rose by 57,000 jobs in June after jumping by 129,000 jobs in May. Economists had expected employment to climb by 114,000 jobs compared to the addition of 172,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2% in June from 4.3% in May. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.