TSX Pares Some Gains After Hitting Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are up in positive territory in late morning trade on Friday, amid slightly easing concerns about tariffs following somewhat encouraging phone calls between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi raising hopes of a de-escalation in Sino-US tensions.

Investors are also digesting the nation's jobs data, as well the non-farm payrolls data from the U.S.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which climbed to a record high of 26,519.61 earlier in the session, was up 67.02 points or 0.25% at 26,409.31 about half an hour before noon.

Energy and technology stocks are among the major gainers. The Energy Capped Index is up 1.6%, while the Information Technology Capped Index is up 1.55%. Materials, communications and consumer staples stocks are weak.

Energy stocks Baytex Energy, Nuvista Energy, Precision Drilling Corp., Vermilion Energy, International Petroleum Corp, Enerflex, Ces Energy Solutions Corp., Paramount Resources and Cenovus Energy are gaining 2.5 to 5%.

In the technology sector, Shopify is rising 5.55% and Bitfarms is up 5.1%. Lightspeed Commerce and Coveo Solutions are gaining 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively.

Orla Mining, Aya Gold & Silver, Centerra Gold, G Mining Ventures Corp., Calibre Mining and Equinox Gold are some of the major losers in the mining sector.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy added 8,800 jobs in the month of May. While full-time employment rose by 58,000, part-time jobs fell 49,000 in the month.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Canada rose to 7% in May, up from 6.9% in the previous month. The unemployment rate hit its highest level since September 2021. Economists had expected the rate to come in at 6.9%.

The Labor Department's data showed non-farm payroll employment in the U.S. shot up by 139,000 jobs in May after jumping by a downwardly revised 147,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 130,000 jobs compared to the addition of 177,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 4.2% in May, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economist estimates.