Toronto stocks advanced Friday, finishing the week with a rally in the resource sector, fuelled by spiking oil prices. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 44.53, or 0.46%, to finish at 9,671.17

Volume on the senior exchange was 177 million shares.

On the week, the main TSX index gained 0.53%.

Six of the 10 TSX major groups gained on the day, with energy advancing 1.34% and materials ahead 0.63%. The heavily weighted financials sector rose 0.47%, while IT dropped 0.87%.

Oil finished at US$55.03 a barrel, up a $1.40 U.S. on the day.

Shares of Cognos Inc. dropped $2.81, or 7.55%, to finish at $34.40 on company warnings that first-quarter earnings and sales would be flat and lower than first expected..

Disappointing second-quarter earnings from drug maker Patheon Inc. saw its stock drop $1.18, or 10.7%, to finish at $9.85.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange advanced 3.92, or 0.23%, to finish 1680.73

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.06 of a cent to finish at US80.17¢.

In New York, stocks closed lower as investors absorbed news that the U.S. economy had created a mere 78,000 jobs in May, less than half the expected number.4

The effect was offset by investor sentiment that the low employment numbers, coupled with weak manufacturing numbers released earlier this week, would put the brakes on the Federal Reserve’s recent policy of raising interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.52 points, or 0.88%, to end the week at 10,460.97. The Nasdaq shed 26.37 points, or 1.26%, to finish at 2,071.43 and the S&P 500 dropped 8.27 points, or 0.69%, to end at 1,196.02.

For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow lost 0.77%, the S&P fell 0.23% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.21%.