Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, as energy and materials stocks tracked weaker commodities, while data showed the nation shed jobs for the second straight month in February.

The energy sector dropped 1.4% on weaker crude prices, while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.3%.

Canada lost 100,800 jobs in February, driven by a decline in hiring in the leisure and hospitality as well as the trade and construction sectors, a report from payroll services provider ADP showed.

At 9:40 a.m. ET (13:40 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 55.31 points, or 0.29%, at 18,927.79.

Miners Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd and OceanaGold Corp , were the biggest decliners on the index, down 3.5% and 3.4% respectively.

The financials sector gained 0.8%. The industrials sector fell 0.2%.

On the TSX, 63 issues were higher, while 150 issues declined for a 2.38-to-1 ratio, with 15.62 million shares traded.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Power Corporation of Canada, which jumped 2.9% after multiple brokerages hiked the price target of the stock, and insurance firm Great-West Lifeco Inc, which rose 2.2%.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Zenabis Global Inc, Shaw Communications Inc, and Hexo Corp.

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

Across all Canadian issues there were 53 new 52-week highs and eight new lows, with total volume of 38.93 million shares.