By Adriano Marchese


Stocks in Toronto were hovering around flat mid-trading on Friday. Markets closed modestly lower on Thursday, pushing the S&P/TSX Composite Index into negative territory for the year. Canada's economy added a net 37,300 jobs in January, after employment showed little change the previous three months, ahead of market expectations of only 15,000 jobs.

In the session, losses were primarily in producer manufacturing, consumer durables and materials, offset by large gains in tech, while commercial services and tech services followed more distantly.

At midday, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index inched 0.03% lower to 20913.21 and the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was flat at 1264.10.

Magna International's shares fell by 7.6% to 72.87 Canadian dollars after the automotive parts supplier's earnings for the latest quarter fell short of expectations.


Other market movers:

Telus shares were 2.3% higher at C$23.48 after the Canadian telecommunications giant reported higher fourth-quarter profit and revenue, benefiting from more subscribers in the quarter to help it surpass the 10 million mobile phone subscriber mark.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-09-24 1215ET