TSX gains on commodities boost, upbeat job data

Canada's main stock index rose on Friday, as energy and mining stocks tracked stronger commodities, while government data showed the nation added more jobs than expected in June.

The energy sector climbed 0.4% as crude prices gained for the second day on a decline in US inventories, while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.6%.

Canada adds 230,700 jobs in June, unemployment falls to 7.8pc

At 9:34 a.m. ET (13:34 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 74.57 points, or 0.37%, at 20,135.78.

However, the index is set to post a second consecutive week in red as investors remained on the sideline amid concerns that the economic recovery was losing steam.

The nation added more jobs than expected in June, bringing employment within 1.8% of pre-pandemic levels, though all the gains were in part-time work, Statistics Canada data showed.

The financials sector gained 0.5%. The industrials sector rose 0.4%.

On the TSX, 178 issues were higher, while 45 issues declined for a 3.96-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 7.35 million shares traded.

The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was food company SunOpta Inc, which jumped 3.1% after brokerage BMO assumed coverage of the stock with "outperform" rating.

Its gains were followed by Richelieu Hardware Ltd , which rose 3.0% after multiple brokerages raised the price target of the stock of the specialty hardware maker.

Real estate investment trust WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust fell 2%, the most on the TSX, and the second biggest decliner was finance firm ECN Capital Corp , down 1%.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bank of Nova Scotia, Bombardier Inc, and Harte Gold Corp .

The TSX posted six new 52-week highs and no new lows.

TSX falls as lower oil prices weigh on energy shares

Across all Canadian issues, there were 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows, with total volume of 13.91 million shares.