Stocks ended higher on Friday after the U.S. March jobs report showed U.S. employment grew at its fastest pace in almost four years.

The unexpected jump in March U.S. non-farm payrolls was take as evidence by investors that the economic rebound is firmly on track. The U.S. Labor Department also revised January and February’s figures upward.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 146.67 points, or 1.7%, at 8,798.75 on a volume of 284.7 million shares. On the week, the index benchmark index gained 3.4%.

All of the TSX’s 10 subgroups closed higher, led by a 3.93% in the technology sector. Six other sectors, including energy and financials, notched more than 1% gains.

Sierra Wireless led the tech charge, rising $6.91, or 14.65%, to $54.09 after it doubled its first quarter profit outlook.

Nortel Networks was up 27¢, or 3.37%, at $8.27 while Research In Motion jumped $11.44, or 9.12%, to $136.84.

RIM said on Friday it had struck a deal with the mobile arm of Siemens AG to offer its BlackBerry wireless e-mail service on Siemens phones.

Among individual stocks, Shaw Communications shares added 13¢ to $22.48 after posting a $17.1-million profit for the company’s fiscal second quarter, reversing the loss of $19.7 million a year earlier.

Shares in the Jean Coutu Group gained 35¢ to $18.10 after it confirmed that it is “engaged in negotiations” on a major American acquisition. The Quebec-based drugstore chain is reported to be seeking part of the Eckerd chain in the United States.

Power Financial shares gained 70¢ to $56.70 and the financial services holding company reported its fourth quarter earnings jumped 30%.

The lone weak spot on the Toronto market was the gold sector. Agnico-Eagle shares fell 28ç to $19.17, while Kinross fell 14¢ to $9.64.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 10.64 points to close at 1,895.42.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 97.26 points at 10,470.59. The S&P 500 rose 9.63 points to 1,141.80. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index roared ahead 42.16 points, or 2.09%, to 2,057.17.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow rose 2.5%, while the Nasdaq gained almost 5%. The S&P 500 gained 3%.

The Canadian dollar fell of 0.46¢ to US76.05¢, as the U.S. employment report prodded the greenback higher.