Markets shrugged off a weak U.S. employment report to close higher Friday. The S&P/TSX index finished up 29.59 points at 6,801.77.

The information technology sector ended Friday’s session up 2.2%, while the heavily weighted financial index snatched a near 0.3% gain.

Shares in Nortel Networks jumped 34¢ to $3.67, while Celestica slipped 27¢ to $26.78.

Among financial stocks Sun Life rose 90¢ to $29.60.

After markets closed, Canada Life said it will formally respond on Monday to an unsolicited $6.1 billion bid from Manulife Financial.

The gold sector also offered support as the price of gold advanced $1.20 to US$354.40 an ounce in New York. Gold stocks closed the day 1 percent higher.

Barrick Gold added 21¢ to $24.15, while Kinross Gold was up 18¢ at $3.80. Iamgold gained 45¢ to $7.98.

Gold miner TVI Pacific fell 5.5¢ to 11.5¢ on volume of 15 million shares after it said that the only news that could account for drastic swings in its price and large volume has been the unequivocal support of the Philippine government to TVI and its Canatuan project despite the ambush of one of its company trucks in the jungle there in late December.

Bombardier gained 21¢ to $6.28 after it won a $212-million order to supply 40 rail coaches and eight locomotives to Germany.

Toronto volume was 324.8 million shares worth $2.55 billion. Advances beat declines 623 to 474 with 205 unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.35 points at 1,119.22.

In New York, markets opened sharply lower on news that the American economy shed 101,000 jobs during December.

Traders eventually shrugged off weaker-than-expected report and the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 8.77 points at 8,784.95.

The Nasdaq edged up 9.29 points to 1,447.75, while he S&P 500 ended the session flat at 927.57.

The Canadian dollar enjoyed a pop of 0.25¢ to US64.71¢ after Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy created 58,000 jobs in December.

In other news, Canada’s big banks are lowering long-term mortgage rates by about a quarter point as the cost of financing on the bond market decreases.