North American markets edged up slightly Friday, as Toronto stocks were paced by technology stocks and New York exchanges were buoyed by positive economic news.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 24.06, or 0.24%, to close 10,148.95.

Volume on the senior exchange was 181 million shares.

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with only the financial sector, down 0.13%, finishing in the red.

Oil prices lifted 29¢ US to $58 US a barrel.

Canadian Natural slumped 15¢, or 0.31%, to $48.75, while EnCana Corp. gained 11¢, or 0.22%, to $49.26.

The IT sector enjoyed a 0.72% gain, while the telecommunications services group appreciated 1.09%

Nortel Networks gained 8¢, or 2.42%, to close $3.38.

Telecom giant BCE Inc. gained 20¢, or 0.68%, to close $29.48, while Telus Inc. lifted a full dollar, or 2.35%, to end $43.55.

The Canadian dollar closed up at US81.92¢, just off its session lows and down from Thursday’s close of US82.49¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 10.23, or 0.60%, to 1,721.20.

In New York, the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 11.94, or 0.11%, to finish 10,640.83; the tech heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 3.96, or 0.18%, to close 2,156.78; and the broad based S&P 500 index lifted 1.42, or 0.12%, to end 1,227.92.

The U.S. Labor Department reported prices at the wholesale level were unchanged in June, but industrial production enjoyed a 0.9% gain, higher than the expected 0.3%.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.8%, the Nasdaq gained 2.1%, and the S&P 500 lifted 1.3%.