Stock markets lower

Photo: Contributed

The Toronto stock market was lower Friday amid another solid month of U.S. job creation data as buying sentiment was checked by concerns about how the stronger than expected data would affect the Federal Reserve's timetable for raising interest rates.

The S&P/TSX composite index gave back 84.39 points to 15,018.72 as the U.S. Labor Department announced that the economy created 295,000 jobs in February, much higher than the 245,000 that economists expected.

Canadian employment data for February will be released March 13.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.56 of a U.S. cent to 79.4 cents as the greenback appreciated following the release of the jobs data.

New York indexes were sharply lower as the Dow Jones industrials fell 163.5 points to 17,972.22, the Nasdaq declined 27.54 points to 4,955.27 and the S&P 500 index was 16.82 points lower at 2,084.22.

"You're seeing a knee-jerk reaction to the downside," said Allan Small, senior adviser at HollisWealth.

"People are saying OK, maybe the Fed is going to raise rates mid-year, talk was maybe September. But you can clearly see that rates are going to rise. And I think the market can handle it but I think this is just an excuse for traders to take profits."

Other data showed that U.S. wage growth in February was up just 0.1 per cent.

Analysts said wage increases would be the most closely watched data from the U.S. employment report. The slow pace of wage growth has been a disappointment so far.

Stronger wage growth would likely add to pressure on the Fed to raise borrowing rates this year for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis. Analysts believe the Fed could move to hike rates as early as June.

In other economic news Friday, there was positive data from Europe's largest economy as German industrial production rose by 0.6 per cent in January, higher than the 0.5 per cent that had been expected.

That data came out a day after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said the ECB had upgraded its growth forecast for the eurozone in 2015 to 1.5 per cent from 1.0 per cent.

Draghi added that the central bank expects the economic recovery to broaden and strengthen.

The gold sector was the major decliner, down five per cent as April bullion fell $21.10 to US$1,175.10 an ounce.

The base metals component shed 1.75 per cent as May copper was four cents lighter at US$2.62 a pound.

The energy sector was down 0.5 per cent as a rising American currency also pressured commodity prices. Oil in New York was 83 cents lower at US$49.93 a barrel.

Financials were the major TSX advancer, ahead 0.3 per cent.

On the corporate front, Ottawa has raised $2.11 billion in its latest auction of wireless spectrum. Telus (TSX:T) was the biggest buyer, paying over $1.5 billion for 15 licences and its shares were down 47 cents at $43.33.

Apple Inc. will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the close of trading March 18. The world’s most valuable company will replace telecommunication giant AT&T Inc.