Investors hid whatever disappointment they felt over employment figures handed down Friday, and sent stocks higher, powered mostly by consumer discretionary and industrial issues.
The S&P/TSX Composite gained 56.32 points to open the final session of a short week at 14,585.10
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.95 cents to 75.85 cents U.S.
Bombardier reported a slightly bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as revenue fell in its business jets unit and margins weakened in its commercial aircraft division.
Bombardier shares faded 5.5 cents, or 2.8%, to $1.94.
Telus Corp. reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by lower operating expenses.
Shares in Telus rocketed 91 cents, or 2.1%, to $43.51.
Canadian auto parts maker Magna International reported a 3.7% rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong vehicle sales in North America and Europe.
Magna shares bolted higher by $2.26, or 4.5%, to $52.12.
RBC raised the rating on WSP Global to outperform from sector perform.
WSP shares gained 14 cents to $42.15.
FirstEnergy raised the rating on Baytex Energy to outperform from market perform. Baytex dropped four cents to $6.04.
BMO raised the rating on Veresen to market perform from underperform. Veresen shares fell four cents to $12.13.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reported that, after three months of little change, employment declined by 31,000, or 0.2%, in July. The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point to 6.9%. The Canadian economy was expected to have added 10,000 jobs in July.
Also, the agency reported that Canada's imports increased 0.8% to $45.0 billion in June. Exports were up 0.6% to $41.4 billion. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade deficit with the world widened from $3.5 billion in May to a record $3.6 billion in June.
Finally, Western University’s Ivey School of Business reported its Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 57 in July, compared to 51.7 in June and 52.9 in July 2015.
The survey of purchasing managers asks whether they increased or decreased their buys during the month. Any reading of 50 or better indicates expansion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 3.3 points to 804.12
Eight of the 13 subgroups were higher, with consumer discretionaries up 1.6%, industrials higher by 1.2%, and telecoms ahead 0.9%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, down 2.4%, materials, off 1.3%, and metals and mining stocks lower 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded sharply higher on Friday as Wall Street digested a better-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrials sprang to life 152.14 points to 18,504.19, turning positive for the week. Merck contributed the lion's share of the gains on the Dow, followed by Goldman Sachs.
The S&P 500 gained 15.02 points to 2,179.27, with financials rising more than 1.5%, and hit a new all-time intraday high.
The NASDAQ Composite hiked 51.57 points to 5,217.82
The U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs in July, well above the expected 180,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9%.
Magna and Virgin America released earnings ahead of the open.
And then Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will post earnings after the markets close.
Shares in Priceline and Kraft Heinz jumped in extended trading after each company posted better-than-expected earnings on Thursday afternoon.
On the other hand, shares in cyber-security firm FireEye look set to plunge at the open after the company reported it was cutting headcount in order to help the firm regain profitability.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 1.56% from Thursday’s 1.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 56 cents a barrel to $41.37 U.S.
Gold prices sagged $20.80 to $1,346.60 U.S. an ounce.
