By Adriano Marchese


Stocks in Toronto were virtually unchanged from Thursday's close at midday Friday, with the TSX Composite Index on track for a 2% decline in the week. A rebound in hiring in Canada in August helped hold the jobless rate steady, though there continue to be signs the labor market faces headwinds as the economy cools.

At midday, Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 0.03% at 20139.07. The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 was flat at 1206.57.

Gains in the session were in health tech, process industries and energy were offset by losses primarily in producer manufacturing, tech services and consumer discretionary.

Metalla Royalty & Streaming shares tumbled by over 12% to 4.65 Canadian dollars ($3.40) after it said it plans to combine with Nova Royalty, bringing together over 100 royalty streams under one banner in a deal with a total equity value of C$190 million on a fully diluted basis.


Other market movers:

Nova Royalty jumped on the same news, rising 5.9% to C$1.61. Metalla will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Nova by exchanging 0.36 of its common shares for each one of Nova's, representing a consideration of 1.90 Canadian dollars per Nova share.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-08-23 1216ET