Continued job losses on both sides of the border in July are expected to take a toll on stock markets Friday.

In Canada, 45,000 jobs were lost in July, pushing the total job losses since the beginning of the downturn to 414,000, Statistics Canada reported. Economists had expected 15,000 jobs to be lost in July. The unemployment rate remained steady, though, at 8.6%, the highest in 11 years.

In the U.S., job losses tapered off last month while the unemployment rate surprisingly fell, providing further evidence that the U.S. recession is nearing an end.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by 247,000 in July, the U.S. Labour Department reported on Friday, the smallest drop since last August and below the 275,000 decline economists had expected.

Although the loss is still terrible by historical standards, the data suggest a turning point is at hand after job cuts earlier in the year that totalled as much as 700,000. The U.S. economy has lost 6.7 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007.

The unemployment rate slid 0.1%age point to 9.4%. The unemployment rate was under 6% less than a year ago.

Overseas, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 24.0 points, or 0.23%, to close at 10,412 and South Korea’s Kospi index gained 10.96, or 0.7%, to 1,576. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 40.98, or 1.4%, to 2,880.30 while Australia’s benchmark declined 27.9, or 0.64%, to 4,303.10.

European markets fell Friday as financial stocks pulled indices down after the Royal Bank of Scotland reported bigger first-half losses and issued a subdued outlook.

Britain’s FTSE 100 tumbled 0.9% to 4,647.81, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.6% to 5,338.76, and France’s CAC dropped 0.8% to 3,451.29.

Financial stocks had an impact on North American markets on Thursday, as they dragged the Toronto Stock Exchange sharply lower after a slew of quarterly earnings reports disappointed investors.

The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 253.56 points, or 2.3%, to close at 10,793.37.

The S&P/TSX Venture index dipped 6.87 points, or 0.6%, to end at 1,188.12.

Equities in New York also finished lower on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.71 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 9,256.26.

The S&P 500 index lost 5.64 points, or 0.6%, to close at 997.08.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 19.89 points, or 1%, to end at 1,973.16.