Canadian Close Slightly Lower Following Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - After recovering from an early move to the downside, Canadian stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Friday.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before ending the day down 15.45 points or 0.1 percent at 16,514.61.

The choppy trading on Bay Street came as stocks on Wall Street also showed a lack of direction as traders seemed unsure of the next catalyst to drive the markets.

Most of the sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader market.

Real estate stocks saw notable weakness on the day, however, with the S&P/TSX Capped Real Estate Index falling by 1 percent.

Utilities and information technology stocks also moved to the downside, while strength was visible among energy stocks despite a modest decrease by the price of crude oil.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada released a report showing a record increase in Canadian manufacturing sales in the month of June.

The report said manufacturing sales skyrocketed by 20.7 percent to C$48.7 billion in June after soaring by 11.6 percent in May.

Statistics Canada noted many factories operated at a much higher capacity in June, with the capacity utilization rate for the total manufacturing sector jumping 10.9 percentage points to 73.3 percent.