TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock market index could open lower on Friday, as weaker commodity prices, including oil, weigh on the resource-heavy market.
Uncertainty on company earnings and economic recovery prospects hobbled global markets.
The Canadian dollar was lower versus the U.S. currency as early gains made after a domestic jobs report beat expectations were handed back as a closer look at details of the report revealed weakness.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday after Chevron Corp warned about its second-quarter earnings, raising the specter of a weaker-than-expected second-half economic recovery and anemic corporate profits.
On Thursday the S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> finished up 120.47 points, or 1.25 percent, at 9,773.92.
Here is some news that could affect the market:
CANADA JOB LOSSES
Fewer Canadians lost their jobs in June than expected as hiring in services industries partially offset factory layoffs, but the unemployment rate rose to a new 11-year high as more people looked for work.
OIL FALLS
Oil prices sank below $60 a barrel on Friday, poised for their biggest weekly fall since January, as traders focused on economic uncertainty.
GOLD, BASE METALS
Gold slipped on Friday as the firmer dollar and weaker oil pressured prices, but losses were limited as physical buying curbed the metal's slide. Most base metals were down.
SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC
Canada's biggest engineering company, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc said on Thursday it has been awarded a contract to design, engineer and manage the construction of a new city in Algeria that will house 80,000 people.
IMPERIAL OIL LTD
Imperial Oil Ltd, which is exploring a big shale gas play in British Columbia, declined to confirm comments by its partner on initial production rates that were reported in the Wall Street Journal.
OECD
The economic outlook for the 30-nation OECD area improved in May and there are signs that the downturn in Canada, Britain, the United States, China and India had reached a bottom, an OECD survey said on Friday.
CANADA RESEARCH
* UBS raises Alamos Gold
* Desjardins raises Astral Media Inc
* RBC raises Orleans Energy
($1=$1.16 Canadian)
(Reporting by Nina Lex; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)
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