Canadian Stocks Move Sharply Higher Following U.S. Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - Extending the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions, Canadian stocks have moved sharply higher during trading on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index surged higher at the start of trading and remains firmly in positive territory.

Currently, the index is up 202.27 points or 1.1 percent at 19,833.61, continuing to regain ground after ending last Friday's trading at its lowest closing level in a year.

The extended rally by Canadian stocks reflects a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing U.S. employment rose by less than expected in the month of October.

The closely watched report said employment climbed by 150,000 jobs in October after jumping by a downwardly revised 297,000 jobs in September.

Economists had expected employment to increase by 180,000 jobs compared to the surge of 336,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9 percent in October from 3.8 percent in September. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

The data has added to optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates after the central bank left rates unchanged for the third time in four meetings earlier this week.

In Canadian economic news, Statistics Canada released a report showing Canadian employment edged up by 18,000 jobs in October.

The report also said the Canadian unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in October from 5.5 percent in September, marking the fourth monthly increase in the past six months.

Statistics Canada said job growth in the construction and information, culture and recreation sectors was offset by decreases in jobs in the wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing sectors.

Interest rate-sensitive real estate stocks are seeing substantial strength on the day, resulting in a 3.5 percent surge by the S&P/TSX Capped Real Estate Index.

Significant strength is also visible among healthcare stocks, as reflected by the 3.0 percent spike by the S&P/TSX Capped Health Care Index.

Gold stocks are also turning in a strong performance amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal, moving sharply higher along with consumer, telecom and financial stocks.

Meanwhile, energy stocks are bucking the uptrend amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, dragging the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index down by 1.1 percent.