Business

The Toronto stock market was lower Friday as U.S. job creation for October came in better than expected and Canadian job growth slowed more than anticipated.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 28.44 points at 12,471.32 after a string of six straight days of gains, while the TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.13 points to 1,320.16.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.27 of a cent to 100.59 cents US as Statistics Canada reported that the economy added just 1,800 jobs last month while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.4 per cent.

New York indexes registered minor gains after the U.S. Labour Department said the American economy cranked out 170,000 jobs in October, higher than the 125,000 that had been expected, although the unemployment rate inched up 0.1 of a point to 7.9 per cent.

The U.S. numbers for August and September were also revised upward to show an additional 84,000 jobs were created.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 13.13 points to 13,245.75, the Nasdaq edged up 1.44 points to 3,021.5 and the S&P 500 index added 3.4 points to 1,430.99.

Both Toronto and New York registered solid gains Thursday in the wake of number of upbeat U.S. economic figures, particularly a closely monitored survey of consumer confidence that came in at the highest level in five years.

Oil and metal prices were lower following gains on Thursday.