Toronto stocks were extending losses for a second session Friday morning following a tepid growth in Canadian employment and slower than expected job growth in the U.S., Canada's largest trading partner. Also, comments from IMF director on global economic growth weighed on trader sentiment.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that the IMF would trim its forecast for global economic growth in a quarterly assessment, due out later this month.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 131.20 points or 1.11 percent to 11,685.83, a day after snapping its six-session losing streak.
The Diversified Materials Index shed over 3 percent, with First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Inmet Mining (IMN.TO) and Teck Resources (TCK_B.TO) shedding around 4 percent each.
The price of crude oil was extending losses for a second session Friday morning as traders were skeptical over the impact of monetary easing measures announced by central banks yesterday. Crude for August lost $2.48 to $84.74 a barrel.
In the oil patch, Bonavista Energy (BNP.TO) lost over 4 percent, while MEG Energy was slipping over 2 percent
Oil and natural gas company Pengrowth Energy (PGF.TO) surrendered nearly 5 percent after it said its dividend payment would be reduced to C$0.04 per month, due to ongoing weakness in both spot and forward commodity price markets.
The price of gold slipped below the $1,600-mark Friday morning as the U.S. dollar was steady versus a basket of currencies amid the jobs data. Gold for August shed $21.20 to $1,588.20 an ounce
Among gold stocks, Allied Nevada Gold (ANV.TO) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) slipped around 2 percent each.
Peru focused gold miner Lupaka Gold Corp. (LPK.TO) and Andean American Gold Corp. (AAG.V) announces that they will merge to create a new gold exploration and development company. Andean American shareholders will receive 0.245 shares of Lupaka for each share held. Shares of Lupaka and Andean dived around 10 percent each.
Commercial building services company Bird Construction (BDT.TO) eased 1 percent even after announcing that it's subsidiary has been awarded C$95 million contract to construct the new Alberta Public Safety and Law Enforcement Training Centre located in Fort Macleod, Alberta.
Meanwhile, intelligent broadband network solutions provider Sandvine (SVC.TO) gained close to 5 percent after announcing that it has received over $2-million in Network Policy Control orders from one of the top 10 telecom providers in the U.S. Separately, the company reported second-quarter net loss of $4.17 million or $0.030 per share versus profit of $1.65 million or $0.012 per share a year ago.
Airlines services provider Air Canada (AC_A.TO, AC_B.TO) moved up 2 percent after reporting that system traffic for the month of June increased 1.5 per cent on a system-wide capacity decline of 0.1 per cent.
Space hardware manufacturer Com Dev International Ltd. (CDV.TO) announced that it has been awarded fully funded contracts from Space Systems/Loral Inc. in excess of $10 million. The stock was trading flat at C$2.820.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said employment was little changed for the second consecutive month and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.2 percent, with the only 7,300 new jobs creations in June. On a yearly basis, employment increased 1.0 percent or 181,000.
Separately, the agency said Municipalities issued building permits worth $7.0 billion in May, a 7.4 percent increase from April and the highest level since May 2007. The increase followed a 4.4 percent decline in April.
From south of the border, a report from the U.S, Labor Department revealed that non-farm payroll employment rose by 80,000 jobs in June following an upwardly revised increase of 77,000 jobs in May. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 100,000 jobs compared to the addition of 69,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Despite the continued job growth during the month, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent, in line with economist estimates.
From the euro zone, industrial production in Germany rose more than expected in May, the latest figures from the Ministry of Economics and Technology showed. Production in Germany climbed 1.6 percent month-on-month in May on a seasonal and calendar adjusted basis. This was faster than the expected 0.1 percent gain.
Meanwhile, output price inflation in the U.K. eased to its lowest level in nearly three years in June as falling prices of crude oil and imported metals allowed manufacturers to reduce charges to cope with weak demand. The output price index for home sales rose 2.3 percent year-on-year, after the 2.9 percent increase in May, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists had expected prices to rise 2.4 percent.
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