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TSX ends down 0.9% at 22,781.43

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Posts 2.4% weekly decline

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Canada's unemployment rate rises to 6.6%

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Energy falls 1.5%; oil settles 2.1% lower

(Updates at market close)

By Fergal Smith

Sept 6 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell to a

more than three-week low on Friday, weighed by declines in

technology and commodity-linked shares, as U.S. and Canadian

jobs data added to investor concerns about a slowdown in the

economy.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index

ended down 206.85 points, or 0.9%, at 22,781.43, its

fourth straight day of declines and its lowest closing level

since Aug. 13.

For the week, the index lost 2.4%, its first weekly decline

in five weeks. Major U.S. indexes posted even steeper declines

on Friday.

"Investors are pricing in the reality of slower economic

growth," said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at

IG Wealth Management.

"You look at what's going on across the cyclical sectors,

whether it's energy, materials, industrials, consumer

discretionary, they're all down."

U.S. employment increased less than expected in August and

Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.6%, its highest level in

more than seven years after excluding the pandemic years of 2020

and 2021.

"The (Canadian) economy isn't growing fast enough to absorb

the new labor entrants, and that's a concern," Petursson said.

The energy sector fell 1.5% as the price of oil extended its

recent declines, settling 2.1% lower at $67.67 a barrel.

Gold and copper prices also fell, weighing on

metal mining shares. The materials sector, which includes miners

and fertilizer companies, ended 2% lower.

Technology fell 1.7%, with shares of Celestica Inc ( CLS )

tumbling 10.2% to a seven-month low.

Enghouse Systems Ltd ( EGHSF ) was a bright spot. Shares of

the application software company climbed 5.6% on

better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Japanese retail giant Seven & I Holdings ( SVNDF ) said it

had turned down Alimentation Couche-Tard's ( ANCTF ) $38.5

billion cash bid, rejecting an offer that would be the

largest-ever foreign buyout of a Japanese company.

Shares of Couche-Tard ended 1.9% higher.