MW: Canadian market slides on falling oil prices, U.S. jobs data
By Liana B. Baker, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Canadian stocks fell on Friday as commodity prices dropped and a disappointing U.S. jobs report soured investor sentiment in Canada.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index (CA:$ISPTX 11,680, -132.29, -1.12%) slumped 92 points, or 0.8%, to 11,720.
Oil prices fell more than 3%, which hurt Canadian stocks. Crude for July delivery fell $2.39, or 3.2%, to $72.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On the week, prices have lost 2.4%.
Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (SU 31.32, -0.63, -1.97%) (CA:SU 32.97, -0.32, -0.96%) lost 0.8%.
The price of natural gas rose to its highest level in three months, which benefited some of Canada's natural-gas producers. Shares of Encana Corp. (ECA 33.37, -0.15, -0.45%) (CA:ECA 35.19, +0.25, +0.72%) rose 1.1%.
In technology stocks, shares of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM 60.27, -1.38, -2.24%) (CA:RIM 63.61, -0.52, -0.81%) moved lower after a UBS analyst lowered the stock's target price to $70 from $75 in a note Friday. Analysts cited increasing competition in the smartphone market as well as a possible announcement on Monday by Apple Inc. about a new iPhone as factors that could hurt RIM. Shares of RIM fell 0.5%.
Gold prices also dipped, which hurt Canadian mining stocks. Gold for August delivery retreated $2.50, or 0.2%, to $1,207.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Canada's statistical agency announced on Friday that 24,700 jobs were added to the Canadian economy in May, the fifth consecutive monthly gain. This figure blew past the 15,000 jobs analysts were expecting.
This promising domestic data, however, did not provide a boost in Friday's session as the Canadian stock market followed Wall Street's broad declines.
The Canadian dollar lost ground against the greenback, which was recently buying C$1.04.
