NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in Toronto finished higher Friday, resisting an earlier pull from falling commodity prices, domestic political turmoil and worse-than-expected jobs data from Canada and the United States.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 59 points, or 0.7%, to 8,117.03. In the previous session, the index fell 2.9%.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, declining stocks outpaced advancing stocks by 729 to 494.
In the metals and mining sector, most shares traded lower, as gold futures fell 1.7% on the New York Mercantile Exchange. See Metals Stocks.
Quadra Mining Ltd. (CA:QUA: news, chart, profile) fell 5.9%, Uranium One Inc. (CA:UUU: news, chart, profile) fell 7% and Yamana Gold Inc. (CA:YRI: news, chart, profile) slipped 0.3%.
In the financial sector, Royal Bank of Canada fell 2.1%.
The bank reported Friday that fourth-quarter net income fell 15% to C$1.12 billion (about $880 million), down from C$1.3 billion a year ago.
The drop was "mainly due to higher write-downs resulting from continued deterioration in the global financial markets, weaker results in our equity trading businesses and higher provision for credit losses," the bank said in a statement.
Energy stocks posted losses, as crude-oil futures fell 3% on continuing worries that the global economic downturn will dent energy demandfell 3.3% but Suncor Energy Inc. (CA:SU: news, chart, profile) rose 1.3%.
Grim jobs data
Canadian employment fell by 71,000 in November following little change in October, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The job loss was three times worse than expected and the largest drop since 1982.
The largest employment declines in November were in Ontario, down 66,000. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.3%.
The jobs data will likely encourage the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates by at least a 50 basis points on Tuesday, analysts said.
Following the data, the U.S. dollar rose 1.5%, or 2 cents, against its Canadian counterpart to 1.2880.
In addition to the grim economic news, investors also worried about Canada's political turmoil.
Opposition parties pledged Friday to topple the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a day after Harper was successful in suspending Parliament in a move to avoid defeat in a confidence vote, the Associated Press reported. The governor general approved Harper's request to shut down Parliament until Jan. 26.
"The suspension of Parliament buys Harper time, but the opposition remains determined to take over in the new year and it remains unclear who will be running Canada next year," said currency strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. "The political crisis, deteriorating economics and weakening oil prices have left the Canadian dollar very vulnerable in the near term."
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks fought off losses suffered after the government reported a 553,000 drop in payrolls in November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA:DJIA
News, chart, profile, more
Last:
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio
Analyst
Create alertInsider
Discuss
Financials
Sponsored by:
DJIA, , ) rose 259 points, or 3.1%, to 8,635.42. See Market Snapshot.
The Labor Department reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls plunged by 533,000 in November, the worst job loss in 34 years.
It's only the fourth time in the past 58 years that payrolls have fallen by more than 500,000 in a month. Since the recession began 11 months ago, a total of 1.9 million jobs have been lost.
The unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in October to 6.7% in November, the highest jobless rate since October 1993. See Economic Report.
