Toronto stocks surged Friday, after taking a relative breather in the previous session, as the senior exchange marked the end of a strong first week of 2006. Resource and technology stocks continued to pace the market.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 112.72, or 0.98%, to 11,620.40. Though the market inched ahead just 6.20 points yesterday, the exchange gained 3.1% for the week.

Friday’s trading volume was 339 million shares.

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were finished higher, with the energy sector gaining 1.82%.

Crude for February delivery rose more than 5% to close at US$64.21 a barrel, a three-month high.

EnCana Corp. rose 75¢, or 1.42%, to $53.43.

Materials gained 1.93%, as gold rose $13.40 to US$541.12 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Bema Gold Corp. rose 23¢, or 6.17%, to $3.96.

The information technology sector gained 3.11%.

Nortel Networks advanced 11¢, or 2.86%, to $3.96.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said the economy added 36,000 full-time jobs, but lost 38,000 part-time positions. Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 6.5% in December, for 6.4% in the previous month, representing a 30-year low.

The Canadian dollar closed at US85.82¢, down 0.13 of a cent from Thursday.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 43.46 points, or 1.92%, to 2,307.40.

In New York, investors drove markets to highs not seen since mid-2001. A lower-than-expected jobs report gave hope that the Federal Reserve was nearing the end of its current cycle of rate hikes, which fuelled the buying spree.

The Dow Jones composite index gained 77.16 points, or 0.71%, to 10,959.31, the S&P 500 was up 11.97 points, or 0.94%, at 1,285.45, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 28.75 points, or 1.26%, to 2,305.62.

The Dow edged closer to 11,000 and, with the S&P 500 index, posted the best weekly percentage gains in seven months. The Nasdaq Composite index had its best week since August 2004.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.25%, S&P gained 2.97% and Nasdaq rose 4.55%.