FX.co ★ TSX Fails To Hold Early Gains, Ends Modestly Lower

The Canadian market closed slightly lower this past Friday, due in part to a mixed assortment of economic data from both Canadian and American sources. Canadian consumer staple and energy stocks closed slightly weaker, while shares in other sectors closed at different levels.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which rose to a fresh 52-week high of 21,892.06 in early trades, closed the session at a loss of 57.03 points or 0.26% at 21,737.53. The index saw an overall weekly gain of about 0.85%.

Data from Statistics Canada indicated that employment in Canada increased by 40,700 in February, a slight increase from an addition of 37,300 jobs in January. The data also showed a small rise in the unemployment rate to 5.8% in February, up from 5.7% in January.

Salary data showed that average hourly earnings for permanent employees in Canada grew by 4.9% year-on-year to $35.51 in February, a slight slowdown from the 5.3% increase seen in January.

Another set of data from Statistics Canada demonstrated that Canadian industries operated at 78.7% of their production capacity in the fourth quarter of 2023, a small decrease from the revised 78.8% of the previous period.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that non-farm payroll employment in the U.S. dramatically increased by 275,000 jobs in February, exceeding the expected increase of 200,000 jobs. However, adjustments were made to previous reports, lowering the job growth in December and January to 290,000 and 229,000 jobs respectively. This reflects a net downward revision of 167,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in the U.S. increased to 3.9% in February, up from 3.7% in January.

Notable decreases in value were seen in shares from Cameco Corporation, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Ag Growth International, Celestica Inc, Rogers Communications and Tourmaline Oil Corp, with falls between 2 and 3%. Brp Inc, TFI International, Constellation Software, Kinaxis Inc and Fairfax Financial Holdings also ended lower.

There were increases in shares from Softchoice Corporation, Canadian Tire Corporation and AutoCanada, with gains near to 5%, 5%, and 4% respectively. Additionally, Franco-Nevada Corporation, Quebecor Inc, Cargojet, Shopify Inc, Wheaton Precious Metals, Stantec and West Fraser Timber shares rose between 1 and 3%.