(Reuters) – Canada‘s main stock index fell on Thursday as a jump in monthly jobless claims raised concerns over the country’s economic recovery, while delays in rollouts of coronavirus vaccines also hit sentiment.
* Canada lost 231,200 jobs in January, the largest decrease since May last year, led by declines in the trade, transportation and utilities and leisure and hospitality sectors, a report from payroll services provider ADP showed.
* At 9:41 a.m. ET (14:41 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 70.05 points, or 0.38%, at 18,304.73.
* Canada‘s COVID-19 vaccination campaign started on the same day in December as the United States, but it now lags dozens of countries, including its southern neighbor.
* The energy sector climbed 0.3% as U.S. crude prices were up 0.5% a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.2%.
* The financials sector slipped 0.3%. The industrials sector fell 0.8%.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.3% as gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,780.8 an ounce.
* On the TSX, 67 issues were higher, while 149 issues declined for a 2.22-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 28.62 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Crescent Point Energy, which jumped 13.4%, and Aphria Inc, which rose 4.8%.
* Canfor Corp fell 4.1%, the most on the TSX, while the second-biggest decliner was Ballard Power, down 3.9%.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Manulife Financial, down 0.8%; Purpose Bitcoin ETF, which was flat, and Fortis Inc, down 0.7%.
* The TSX posted eight new 52-week highs and no new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 29 new 52-week highs and eight new lows, with total volume of 63.38 million shares.
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M. & Aditya Soni)
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