TORONTO - The Toronto stock market managed just a slight gain amid a disappointing employment report that showed the Canadian economy unexpectedly lost 9,400 jobs in June.
The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 11.02 points to 15,125.50, held back by weak energy stocks despite an advance in gold issues even as bullion prices declined.
The worse than expected jobs numbers also put pressure on the Canadian dollar, which fell 0.76 of a cent to 93.16 cents US.
Statistics Canada said the job losses sent the unemployment rate up one-tenth of a point to 7.1 per cent -- the highest level since last December. Full-time employment rose by 33,500, partly making up for the loss of 43,000 part-time jobs. Economists had forecasted June would see 24,000 jobs created after a gain of 25,800 in May.
Meanwhile, Wall Street also saw relatively small moves amid a dearth of economic data in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrials rose 28.74 points to 16,943.81, the Nasdaq gained 19.29 points to 4,415.49 and the S&P 500 advanced 2.89 points to 1,967.57.
The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange plunged $2.10 to US$100.83 a barrel, resuming a two-week decline after a small uptick Thursday. Oil hit a 10-month high of $107 a barrel last month amid gains by insurgents in Iraq and other geopolitical concerns. August bullion fell $1.80 to US$1,337.40 an ounce.
