Stocks rose at the start of trading on Friday, after a strong U.S. payrolls report pointing to big improvements in the labour market.
The news offset Canada's sluggish employment data, which showed the job market unexpectedly stalled.
The S&P TSX Composite Index began Friday ahead by 56.09 points to 12,609.57
The Canadian dollar regained 0.34 cents at 100.41 cents U.S.
Among Canadian stocks, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rose 3.1% at the open, Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.9% and Teck Resources Ltd. rose 2%.
Other Canadian stocks to watch, pulp and paper giant Domtar Corp. said its quarterly profit fell 80%, hurt by weak pulp prices and lower paper shipments, and said pulp prices were expected to remain under pressure in certain geographies.
CE Franklin Ltd., which distributes oilfield production equipment, posted a nearly three times jump in fourth-quarter profit, but forecast only a modest revenue growth for 2012 as it expects industry activity to remain flat.
Digital whiteboard maker Smart Technologies Inc. said its quarterly net profit dipped 13% as it recorded lower gross margins and incurred costs from moving its Ottawa assembly operations.
Aerospace products maker Heroux-Devtek Inc posted a 34% rise in third-quarter profit as robust demand for heavy mining equipment pushed up sales at its industrial products unit.
Canada’s economy, though, created a negligible 2,300 net new jobs in the month as layoffs in construction and professional services offset modest hiring in manufacturing, that word from Statistics Canada.
The jobless rate ticked higher to 7.6% from 7.5%, the highest since April 2011, as more people were looking for work.
Analysts had predicted 23,100 new positions and a jobless rate holding steady from December at 7.5%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.57 points to 1,668.14, while the Nasdaq Canada index shed 0.67 points to 427.80.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive at the outset. Metals and mining surged 2.2%, industrials strengthened 1.7%, and global base metals popped 1.5%.
The three laggards were gold, off 2%, materials, sliding 0.9%, and information technology, fading 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied at the open Friday, as investors cheered a much stronger-than-expected report on January job growth.
The Dow Jones Industrials spiked 138.28 points, or 1.1%, to start the day at 12,843.70
The S&P 500 powered ahead 17.07 points to 1,342.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 37.89 points to 2,897.57
Meanwhile, investors will also remain on the lookout for an official agreement on a debt-reduction plan, and second bailout for Greece. The deal is expected to come by the end of the week, though deadlines have been missed in the past.
Tyson Foods shares rose after the company reported profits better-than-expected earnings and issued slightly upbeat guidance.
Defense contractor Booz Allen reported strong earnings, but the stock slipped slightly.
Estee Lauder reported a 15% profit increase in the fourth quarter to $597 million U.S., but its stock tumbled.
Zynga shares continue to rise, after Facebook's IPO revealed the gamemaker accounted for 12% of its revenue in 2011.
Research in Motion shares dipped after the Blackberry-maker said it will give its tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook out to Android developers in exchange for their apps.
On the economic ledger, the U.S. Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January, far exceeding expectations. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, the lowest since February 2009.
Economists had expected the department to report an increase of just 130,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate was expected to rise to 8.6%.
Economists had expected a slowdown in post-holiday hiring, considering that about 40,000 temporary couriers were hired for the holidays alone.
Reports are also due Friday on factory orders and the service sector. Also, a slew of corporate results came out on Thursday morning. Factory orders for December are expected to have risen 1.5%, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com. The January installment of the ISM Services Index is expected to hit 53.1, up from 52.6 in the month prior.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note took a header, boosting yields to 1.94% from Thursday’s 1.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gained 53 cents to $96.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $8.20 to $1,751.10 U.S. an ounce.
