TSX investors shrug off disappointing jobs data

TORONTO — The Toronto Stock Exchange jumped for the fourth day in a row on Friday despite disappointing jobs numbers on both sides of the border.

The S&P/TSX composite was up 69.72 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 11,250.42, its highest mark since Oct. 23.

Over the past five days, the country's main exchange added 3.1 per cent to record its first weekly gain in three weeks.

The TSX Venture Exchange was also higher on Friday, adding 9.07 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 1,340.62.

"It appeared early in the day that equities had every reason to drop heading into the weekend with a disappointing Canadian employment report and the U.S. unemployment rate breaking through the 10 per cent level to 10.2 per cent, and (Thursday's) rally creating profit-taking opportunites," said Colin Cieszynski, market analyst at CMC Markets Canada.

"Instead, after a brief downdraft, indices quickly bounced back, indicating strong underlying support apparently based on long-term recovery anticipation."

After two straight months of gains, Statistics Canada said Canada unexpectedly lost 43,200 jobs in October. The unemployment rate rose to 8.6 per cent in October from 8.4 per cent in September.

"Canadian employment was much worse than expected in October, with a 43,000 decline suggesting that the prior two months tallies might have included an overestimate, given that these are survey results," said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist, CIBC World Markets.

"Overall, a much weaker report that is more in line with the poor reports we were seeing for GDP. Negative for the Canadian dollar, supportive for fixed income markets."

Gainers outpaced losers on the TSX Friday as all 10 sub-indexes closed in positive territory.

The materials group added 1.71 per cent, energy stocks were 0.07 per cent higher and financials remained relatively flat heading into the weekend, up 0.02 per cent.

On commodity markets, crude oil fell $2.19 to $77.43 U.S. a barrel, and gold added $6.40 to $1,095.70 an ounce. The Canadian dollar fell 83 basis points to 93¢

In the United States, stocks were also higher Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 17.46 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 10,023.42. The S&P 500 added 2.67 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 1,069.30, and the Nasdaq composite index closed at 2,112.44, up 7.12 points, or 0.34 per cent.

The U.S. Labour Department said that 190,000 jobs had been lost in October, worse than the 175,000 expected by economists, pushing the unemployment rate to 10.2 per cent — the highest figure since April 1983. Economists had forecast an increase the unemployment rate to 9.9 per cent.