Another month of unexpected growth in employment helped both Canadian stocks and the loonie post gains on Friday.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 40.8 points, or 0.43%, to finish the week at 9,596.21.

This gains followed news from Statistics Canada that the Canadian economy added 9,500 jobs in the month of October.

TSX gains were led by the materials group, which rose 2.46% after gold futures posted modest gains. Gold for December delivery rose US$2.00, or 0.27%, to close at US$734.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The sub-gold index soared 4.9%.

Shares of Goldcorp Inc. rose 4.27% to close at $26.14 and Barrick Gold Corp. shares gained 2.4% to close at $28.16.

The news was less positive for other materials stocks, including Teck Cominco Ltd., down 1.48% to $11.28.

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. shares plunged 19.7% to close at $4.24 after the company reported that its third quarter profit more than quadrupled from the same quarter last year, and announced it would postpone a development of a B.C. project until economic conditions improve.

The energy group gained 1%, following a slight gain in the price of oil. Crude for December delivery rose US$0.27, or 0.44% to close at US$61.14 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Suncor Energy Inc. shares rose 3% to close at $25.50 and Imperial Oil shares rose 2.27% to close at $38.71.

The financials group lost 0.1%. This included a drop of 5.97% for shares of TMX Group Inc., which closed at $27.86.

Gainers included Royal Bank of Canada, up 1.39% to $47.35 and CIBC, up 0.93% to $55.12.

Air Canada shares plummeted 16.85% to $4.49 after it posted a net loss of $132 million in the third quarter.

Telecom giant Telus Corp. reported a 30% decline in third-quarter net income to $285.1 million, while revenue grew 6% to $2.45 billion. It’s A-class shares dropped 5.15% to $37.00.

Quebecor Inc. shares fell 5% after it reported third-quarter earnings of $45.6 million, up from a year-ago loss of $35.2 million. It said higher revenue was driven by the media and telecommunications group’s Videotron cable subsidiary, against disappointing results in its publishing and media divisions. Its shares closed at $20.01.

The Canadian dollar rose a quarter of a cent against the U.S. dollar, closing at US84.18¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 1.75 points, or 0.19% to end at 921.88.

In New York, stock markets managed solid gains of their own despite much less positive news in employment. The U.S. economy shed nearly a quarter of a million jobs in the month of October.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 248 points, or 2.9% to close at 8,943.81. For the week, the average was down by 4.1%.

The S&P 500 index climbed 26.11 points, or 2.9% to end at 930.99 — a 3.9% drop for the week. The Nasdaq composite index gained 38.7 points, or 2.4%, to 1,647.4, down 4.3% from last Friday’s close.