Toronto stocks eked out a small gain on Friday, failing to draw much inspiration from a strong Canadian jobs report. investors are waiting for the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision next week.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 6.02 points at 7,077.56.

A much stronger-than-expected Canadian labor market report for June, released this morning, showed the jobless rate declined to 7.7% and that the economy added 48,800 new jobs.

Among the TSX sectors posting gains were utilities, up 0.58%, and information technology, up 0.09%.

Among tech issues, Nortel Networks rose 12¢ to $4.47, while Research In Motion gained 46¢ to $31.81.

The energy, gold and materials sectors all finished down with energy off the most at 0.27%.

The junior TSX Venture composite index added 4.77 points to 1,122.86.

In New York, stocks rose on Friday as a bullish call on retailer Home Depot and a reassuring outlook from General Electric fed investors’ optimism that more companies would report positive profit news in coming weeks.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 83.55 points, to 9,119.59. The broader S&P 500 added 9.42 points, to 998.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 18.04 points to 1,733.90.

The Canadian dollar bounced back from six-week lows on Friday after the unexpectedly strong employment report reduced expectations that the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates next week.

The loonie finished at US72.62¢. cents, up from US72.37¢ at the previous close.