Toronto stocks closed slightly higher on Friday, shrugging off weak economic numbers from both Canada and the United States.

The TSE 300 closed up 25.16 points at 7,425.65.

The North American economy contracted on both sides of the border in the third quarter. Canada’s gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 0.8%, while in the United States, third-quarter GDP was down 1.1% on an annualized basis.

Overall seven of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices advanced on the day. Strength in biotech issues pushed the consumer products sub-index up 1.24%.

Biovail Corp. rose $2.87, or 3.4%, to $86.30. Angiotech also added 3.4%, or $2.85, to close at $86.67.

The industrial products index gained 1.30% on led by tech bellwether Nortel Networks. Nortel gained 30¢ to $12.20, while Cryptologic rose $1.30 to $31.30.

Market momentum was positive, as 558 issues advanced, and 488 declined. Volume was moderate at 166.5 million shares.

Venture capital stocks posted solid gains as the CDNX index climbed 36.43 points to 3,098.98

Trading was heavy on a volume of 40.2 million with 226 advances and 204 declines.

In New York, blue-chips closed higher, but off their best levels of the session, while tech stocks eased.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of 22.14 points to 9,851.56. The Nasdaq composite index was off 2.70 points at 1,930.56, and the S&P 500 lost less than a point at 1139.46.