(Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slipped on Thursday as data showed payroll jobs fell for a sixth straight month in August, while a stimulus plan from the U.S. Federal Reserve disappointed investors.
* Canada lost 205,400 jobs in August, as hiring tumbled in the construction, and trade, transportation and utilities sectors, a report from payroll services provider ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) showed.
* At 9:54 a.m. ET (13:54 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 109.58 points, or 0.67%, at 16,186.08.
* The energy sector dropped 2.0% as U.S. crude prices were down 0.9% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.6%.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.9% as gold futures fell 1.4% to $1,933.8 an ounce.
* On the TSX, 46 issues rose, while 172 issues fell in a 3.74-to-1 ratio favoring losers, with 25.60 million shares traded.
* The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Badger Daylighting, which jumped 3.6%, followed by Bausch Health Cos that gained 2.6% after Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) raised its rating to "neutral" from "underperform".
* Vermilion Energy fell 5.1%, the most on the TSX, while the second biggest decliner was Teranga Gold Corp, down 4.4%.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Zenabis Global Inc, Just Energy Group and Nuvei Corp.
* The TSX posted one new 52-week high and no new low.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 11 new 52-week highs and six new lows, with total volume of 63.35 million shares.