(Reuters) - Canadian stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday following data showing a slide in China's factory activity and in France's service sector. But shares of BlackBerry Ltd were set to jump after Facebook Inc's stunning $19 billion bid for fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp, with investors cheered by the lofty valuation for the messaging platform. The deal put a rough valuation metric around the smartphone maker's own BlackBerry Messaging service. (Reporting by Mononshila Deka in Banagalore and Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)



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