Canadian equities see fall on interest rate concerns

Stocks in Canada had fallen by midday on Friday on the concern that interest rates might be on the way up as well as on worries about how climbing oil prices could affect the economy.

Another concern is unemployment. 5,900 jobs were created in Canada in July, down from over 14,000 new jobs in June. Unemployment in Canada rose 0.1 percent to 6.8 percent. It had been expected that 20,000 jobs would be created and that the unemployment rate would stay at 6.7 percent.

In addition, jobs numbers in the US were good enough that Canadians could see further interest rate rises from the US.

The S&P/TSX composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange dropped 0.6 percent to 10,560.42 on a volume of 100.7 million shares.

Banks were down after the news that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce would take a big hit after settling a class-action lawsuit in relation to its involvement with US company Enron.

However, Canadian Imperial actually gained 0.2 percent to C$71.86. Banks on the losing side included the Royal Bank of Canada, which fell 0.6 percent to C$76.49 and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which lost 0.6 percent as well, to C$54.46.

Railways were also down. Canadian National Railway fell 0.8 percent to C$80.39, while Canadian Pacific Railway lost 3 percent to C$5.61.

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