TSX Ends Marginally Down After Choppy Ride

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended modestly lower on Friday with investors making largely cautious moves, after Canadian employment data raised expectations that the Bank of Canada will announce a sharp rate hike next week.

Health care stocks declined sharply. Materials and energy stocks were the other prominent losers. Consumer discretionary shares fared well, while shares from other sectors ended mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which spent just a few minutes in positive territory during the session, ended with a loss of 40.31 points or 0.21% at 19,022.86, well off the day's low of 18,897.74. The index gained about 0.9% in the week.

In the healthcare section, Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO), Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO), Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) ended lower by 3 to 5%.

Materials shares Hudbay Minerals (HBM.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) and Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO) lost 4 to 7.6%.

In the energy section, Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO) and Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO) shed 1 to 3%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Aritzia (ATZ.TO), Park Lawn Corp (PLC.TO) and Dollarama (DOL.TO) gained 2.6 to 4.2%.

Technology stocks Havision Systems (HAI.TO), Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO), Alithya Corp (ALYA.TO) and Hut 8 Mining (HUT.TO) ended sharply higher. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) declined sharply.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy shed 43,200 jobs in June of 2022, against market expectations of a 23,500 rise.

Full time Employment in Canada decreased by 4,000 in June, compared to a 135,400 increase in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Canada fell to 4.9% in May of 2022 from 5.1% in the prior month. It was the lowest rate on record since comparable data became available in 1976.

Data released by the Labor Department today showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 372,000 jobs in June after surging by a revised 384,000 jobs in May. Economists had expected employment to increase by 268,000 jobs compared to the addition of 390,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report showed the unemployment remained at 3.6% for the fourth month in a row, matching economist estimates.