North American markets are poised to open higher Friday as trades respond to a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls jumped by a robust 337,000 in October, the Labor Department said today. That’s almost twice the rate forecast by economists.

However, the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a percentage point to 5.5%, as more job seekers resumed their search for work.

Here at home, Canadian employers added another 34,300 jobs in October but the unemployment rate remained at 7.1% as more people entered the labour force, Statistics Canada said today.

The job growth numbers came in slightly above private sector forecasts, which were calling for 29,000 new jobs.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.2 of a cent to US82.62¢ as the American greenback strengthened on the release of the U.S. data.

A sharp drop in the price of oil Thursday gave U.S. investors another reason to cheer after the decisive results of the presidential election. But fall in crude offset good news about the price of gold, constraining Canadian markets.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 25.26 points or 0.29% at 8,866.61, while and the TSX Venture composite index advanced 16.77 points or 1.05% to 1,621.33.

In New York, the Dow Jones posted a second-consecutive triple-digit gain, surging 177.71 points or 1.75% after getting off to a sluggish start. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 19.30 points or 0.97% to at 2,023.63 and the S&P 500 also advanced, adding 18.47 points or 1.62% at 1,161.67.