Markets opened weak Thursday as U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fell and Canadian payroll numbers declined.
After opening lower, the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark, the S&P/TSX composite index, was up 11.05 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 10,111.98 in early trading.
The Canadian dollar was down to 86.38 cents U.S., from Wednesday's close of 86.77 cents U.S..
The price of oil was up after a militant group in Nigeria shut down one of Royal Dutch Shell's pipeline junction points, cutting supply from Africa's largest oil producer. Oil was trading at $69.54 U.S. a barrel in early trading, after its previous close of $68.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold was up to $938 U.S. an ounce from its previous close of $934.40 U.S. an ounce.
The number of people on Canadian payrolls declined 0.4 per cent to 51,400 in April from the previous month, Statistics Canada said Thursday, as companies across most sectors continued to slash jobs. Since employment reached a peak in October 2008, 376,500 positions have been eliminated, the federal agency said.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 8.69 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 8,290.94. The Nasdaq composite index was down 3.79 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 1,788.48.
The U.S. economy shrank at a less-than expected 5.5 per cent annual rate in the first quarter due to declining inventories, business spending and housing, according to the U.S. Commerce Department Thursday.
Market consensus was for a 5.7 per cent decline, after shrinking 6.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 0.5 per cent in the third quarter.
Initial jobless claims for the week of June 20 unexpectedly rose to 627,000 from 612,000 the week before, the U.S. Labour Department said. Market consensus was for a drop to 600,000.
Continuing claims for the week of June 13 increased by 29,000 over the previous week to 6.74 million. The previous week was the first time since January 2009 that the level of continuing claims declined.
Ian Pollick, economic strategist at TD Securities, said although there is still big job losses in the U.S. labour market, "there is some evidence to suggest that the level is beginning to show signs of stability." He added that "the positive sentiment due to the decline in last week's continuing claims data has effectively been muted for the time being."
Markets were mixed overseas. London's FTSE 100 index was down 37.49 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 4,242.49 at midday Wednesday. Frankfurt's DAX was down 77.96 points, or 1.61 per cent, to 4,758.05 and the Paris CAC was down 72.02 points, or 2.26 per cent, to 3,112.74.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average closed up 205.76 points, or 2.15 per cent, to 9,796.08, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 382.88 points, or 2.14 per cent, to 18,275.03.
On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX ended the day up 204.21 points, or 2.06 per cent, to 10,100.93. The Dow Jones fell 23.05 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 8,299.86 and the Nasdaq gained 27.42 points, or 1.55 per cent, to 1,792.34.
