Investors will get a chance to respond to North American jobs data when markets open Friday.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added 51,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in September and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%.

Economists had forecast that 123,000 new jobs would be created last month.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said Canada’s unemployment rate slipped to a 6.4% in September from 6.5% the month before.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.21¢ Friday morning, up 0.37 of a cent.

In other news, crude-oil prices fell 29¢ to US$59.74 a barrel as OPEC’s president scrambled to broker an agreement among the cartel’s members to cut oil output in an attempt to shore up tumbling crude prices.

In M&A news, Retirement Residences Real Estate Investment Trust has agreed to be taken over by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in a deal worth $2.8 billion, including debt, the trust announced late Thursday. The Crown corporation manages employer and employee contributions to the federal public service, the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pension funds.

Garneau Inc. has scrapped a proposed $25.5 million takeover by energy services company ShawCor Ltd. over Competition Bureau concerns about the transaction.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 closed the Tokyo session down 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 was nearly flat overall in London. In Europe, shares of Barclays and Lloyds gained as the United Kingdom banks continue to benefit from takeover speculation.

Toronto stocks posted strong gains for a second day in a row on Thursday, on stronger commodity prices and news of a partnership between EnCana Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 131.88 points, or 1.1%, to at close at 11,750.00.

Life sciences company MDS Inc. announced plans to sell its laboratory services division for $1.33 billion to a unit of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension fund. MDS shares climbed $1.38 to $20.13.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index jumped up 47.06 points to 2,369.54.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose with the Dow Jones industrial average hitting fresh all-time closing and intraday highs.

The Dow was up 16.08 points, or 0.14%, to end y at 11,866.69. The S&P 500 was up 3.00 points, or 0.22%, to finish at 1,353.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 15.39 points, or 0.67%, to close at 2,306.34.