Focus on fundamentals, not "market noise": Harper

The trillions of dollars that have been lost on markets recently are "market noise" that should not sidetrack fundamental work on expanding trade and jobs, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday.

"It's way too easy to focus on the trillions that seem to be made or lost from movements on markets. What really matters is what we are doing here," he told reporters in Brazil in the middle of a Latin American tour.

"And that is focusing on mid-term and longer-term opportunities to create wealth, to create trade, to create enterprise, to create jobs."

Harper said, in remarks televised in Canada, that such a focus had brought results for both Brazil and Canada.

"That's been the basis of our success to this point. It has been not ignoring the market trends and not ignoring the market fluctuations, but it has been to create good fundamentals, to focus on those fundamentals and to focus on a clear long-term strategy to create jobs and wealth," he said.

"That's what we're doing here, that's what we're doing here today, and that's what we've got to continue doing, notwithstanding all the noise out there on international markets."