Toronto stocks continued to rise Thursday as investors shrugged off weak U.S. economic data. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 33.54 points to 7,034.87.

Before the market opened, the U.S. Labor Dept, said the number of people applying for initial jobless benefits rose last week to 442,000, the highest level in more than a month. Economists had forecast new jobless claims would total 420,000.

Another economic report showed an unexpectedly big decline in new orders for U.S. factory goods, which posted their largest drop in 17 months in April. Factory orders sank 2.9%, the biggest fall since November 2001.

In Toronto, the gold sector led with a 2.18% rise as bullion prices benefited from a weak U.S. dollar.

Also pushing the market higher was a 1.5% surge among tech stocks and a 1.78% gain in health care issues.

Corel Corp. said there’s a “high likelihood” it will strike a definitive deal to be bought by Vector Capital, a U.S. venture financing firm that currently owns about 20% of the company.

Trading of the company’s shares was halted after they had zoomed more than 12% on extremely high volume earlier in the day.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange rose 6.32 to 1,093.33.

In New York, stocks ended slightly higher on Thursday, The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 2.32 points at 9,041.30.

The S&P 500 index rose 3.9 points to 990.14. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index finished up 11.36 points.

The Canadian dollar jumped above US74¢ after the European Central Bank cut interest rates by one-half of a percentage point. The loonie gained 0.68 of a cent to end the session at US74.39¢ — it’s highest close since Feb. 4, 1997.