Canadian Stocks Finish Choppy Session Moderately Lower

(RTTNews) - Like their U.S. counterparts, Canadian stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday before closing mostly lower.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 62.89 points or 0.3 percent to 20,633.28, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session.

The choppy trading on the day came as investors digested the release of monthly employment data from both sides of the border.

The U.S. Labor Department released a report showing non-farm payroll employment surged by 428,000 jobs in April, matching the revised jump seen in March.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 391,000 jobs compared to the addition of 431,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate came in unchanged at 3.6 percent versus expectations the rate would edge down to 3.5 percent.

With the report showing continued strength in the labor market, economists predicted the Federal Reserve will continue with its plans to raise interest rates relatively sharply over the coming months.

"Overall, with labor market conditions still this strong - including very rapid wage growth - we doubt that the Fed is going to abandon its hawkish plans because of the current bout of weakness in equities," Ashworth said.

A separate report from Statistics Canada showed Canadian employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth. The report also showed the Canadian unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 percent.

Significant weakness among technology stocks contributed to the lower close on Bay Street, with the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology Index plunging by 2 percent.

Real estate and healthcare stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while energy stocks edged higher amid a notable increase by the price of crude oil.