Toronto stocks ended flat on Friday, as profit-taking erased early gains that briefly pushed the Toronto Stock Exchange's main index above the 12,000 point level. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up just 0.02 of a point at 11,936.68.
The TSX had opened with a bang, touching a high of 12,076.88 before retreating. For the week, the TSX rose almost 1 percent, and is up 5.9 percent so far this year.
"It ended with a whimper," said Elvis Picardo, chief market strategist at Global Securities Corp, in Vancouver. "The key driver was the payroll numbers."
Statistics Canada said on Friday the employment market lost 5,500 jobs in July, countering forecasts of a net gain, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent from 6.1 percent in June. US employers added fewer than expected jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent in June.
"The markets initially rallied on expectations that this could give the Bank of Canada and the Fed ammunition to hold off on interest rate hikes," said Picardo.
"Initial optimism has faded away - concerns now are about the extent to which the North American economy could slow down and that's having an affect on stocks."
Nine of the TSX index's 10 main groups finished higher, however energy shares ended down 0.4 percent on a slide in oil prices.
US September crude settled 70 cents lower at $74.76, after Tropical Storm Chris was downgraded to a tropical depression, easing fears it would hurt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Talisman Energy was down 37 Canadian cents, or 1.9 percent, to close at C$19.56. Nexen Inc was down C$1.36, or almost 2 percent, to end at C$67.54.
"Energy was a little higher in the morning, crude oil was a little higher - but this faded as the day went along," said Mario Richard, senior portfolio strategist at Sceptre Investment Counsel.
"There's no clear trend. Perhaps ahead of a long-weekend there might be a little bit of profit-taking."
Meanwhile, shares in the technology subgroup led the gainers, ending 1.2 percent higher.
Open Text Corp rose 31 Canadian cents, or almost 2 percent, to close at C$15.85. The business software firm said on Friday it had agreed to buy rival Hummingbird Ltd for about $489 million.
Research In Motion was up C$1.60, or 2.2 percent, at C$74.47.
Telecom stocks edged 0.6 percent higher, helped by Telus Corp as it reported an 88 percent jump in quarterly profit. Telus shares were up 45 Canadian cents, or 0.9 percent, at C$49.30.
Market volume was a moderate 207.3 million shares worth C$4.02 billion. Advancers outpaced decliners 769 to 673. The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index closed 0.83 points lower, or 0.1 percent, at 673.94.
US stocks ended lower on Friday on concerns over slowing growth, despite optimism the Federal Reserve won't raise rates next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.24 points, or 0.02 percent, to end at 11,240.35. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 7.29 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 2,085.05. For the week, the Dow gained 0.18 percent while the Nasdaq fell 0.43 percent.
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