Canadian Stocks Fluctuate Before Closing Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - After an early move to the upside, Canadian stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but managed to close mostly higher.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index finished the day well off its early highs but still closed up 66.20 points or 0.3 percent at 20,937.55.

The uptick on the day partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest U.S. economic data, including a closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in December.

While the data initially raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates, positive sentiment prevailed as traders digested the details of the report, which also showed notable downward revisions to job growth in October and November.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 216,000 jobs in December compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 170,000 jobs.

At the same time, the increases in employment in October and November were downwardly revised to 105,000 jobs and 173,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 71,000 jobs.

"There's no recession threat in this report, nor any reason for the Fed to worry about overheating," said FHN Financial Chief Economist Chris Low. "It is as safely down the middle as they come."

The Institute for Supply Management also released a report showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the pace of U.S. service sector growth, easing recent concerns the Federal Reserve will hold off on lowering interest rates.

A separate report released by Statistics Canada showed Canadian employment was virtually unchanged in December, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent.

Healthcare stocks showed a significant move to the upside on the day, driving the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index up by 1.5 percent.

Commercial real estate and energy stocks also saw some strength, while industrial stocks moved to the downside.