TSX Ends On Firm Note On Strong Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended on a firm note on Friday, led by gains in technology and financials shares.

Strong jobs data and the rally in U.S. technology sector helped underpin sentiment.

Data from Statistics Canada showed that employment in Canada rose by 37,300 in January, following an upwardly revised addition of 12,300 jobs in December. The unemployment rate in Canada eased to 5.7% in January from the 22-month high of 5.8% recorded in December.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed average hourly earnings in Canada rose by 5.3% year-on-year to $35.51 in January, slowing from 5.7% increase in the previous month.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 89.96 points or 0.43% at 21,009.60, recovering from an early low of 20,891.13. The index gained 0.2% in the week.

Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO), up 12.15%, was the top gainer in the technology sector. Bitfarms (BITF.TO) soared 8.55% and Coveo Solutions (CVO.TO) surged 6%. Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Alithya Group (ALYA.TO), Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) climbed 1.9 to 4%.

Financials shares Goeasy (GSY.TO), Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Laurentian Bank (LB.TO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) posted strong gains.

TELUS Corporation (T.TO) gained 3%. The company reported fourth-quarter operating revenues and adjusted EBITDA growth of 2.6% and 9.4%, respectively. The company's fourth-quarter net income was up 17% from a year ago.

Consumer discretionary stock Magna International (MG.TO) dropped 6.7%. The company reported a net income of $271 million for the quarter ended December 2023, compared to net income of $95 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.