(Adds portfolio manager comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends down 118.10 points, or 0.87 percent, at
13,478.31.
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell
broadly on Friday as mixed employment data provided little
clarity for investors ahead of central bank monetary policy
meetings on both sides of the border.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE fell 118.10 points, or 0.87 percent, to 13,478.31. It
lost 2.7 percent on the week, pummeled by volatile oil prices
and fears about slowing Chinese growth.
"I think the market now is confused and scared," said Marcus
Xu, portfolio manager at M.Y. Capital Management Corp. "The TSX
remains under lots of pressure from all these worry factors," he
added, referring to China, the price of oil, and uncertainty
over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will choose to raise
interest rates later this month.
Canada unexpectedly added jobs in August, but the
unemployment rate rose to a one-year high as more people looked
for work. ID:nL1N11A0F5
Job growth in the United States slowed in August, but the
unemployment rate dropped to a near 7-1/2-year low and wages
accelerated. ID:nL1N11925M
"At the end of the day, when you look at the data release
this morning, there isn't a clear answer and if there's one
thing the market doesn't like, it's uncertainty," said Patrick
Blais, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.
"The market's just having trouble reading the timing of the
(Federal Reserve's) rate increase. I think that's just throwing
the market off. There's a little bit for everyone, but at the
end of the day, no one's happy."
Blais said the odds the Bank of Canada cuts rates have
dropped heading into next week's meeting, but that domestic
headwinds remain and improving trends were unsustainable.
The biggest drags on the index were Royal Bank of Canada
RY.TO , which fell 1.5 percent to C$70.88, and Toronto-Dominion
Bank TD.TO , which declined 1.3 percent to C$51.11.
The hefty and influential financials group retreated 1.2
percent, including six of the top 10 losers.
Despite less volatility in crude prices on Friday, energy
stocks also performed poorly, down 0.7 percent. Canadian Natural
Resources CNQ.TO lost 3.1 percent to C$27.44.
The mining sub-sector fell 5.3 percent.
In corporate news, BlackBerry Ltd BB.TO fell 2 percent to
C$9.66 after it said it will buy rival mobile software provider
Good Technology Corp GDTC.O for $425 million. ID:nL4N11A2R3
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 177 to 65, for a
2.72-to-1 ratio on the downside. Nine of the 10 main sectors
fell.