Toronto stocks closed with modest gains on Friday, lifted by a stronger than expected September employment report. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 29.12 points to end the day at 7,633.61. For the week, the TSX benchmark roe 1.5%.

Momentum was positive with 639 issues advancing and 533 declining.

The energy index rose 0.8% as crude oil futures gained 99¢ to US$32 a barrel, while natural gas added 16¢ to US$5.65.

Canadian Natural Resources added $1.01 to $58.15; Precision Drilling gained 93¢ to $54.68.

Among actively traded issues, Biovail continued to battle back from a series of analyst downgrades on the company. Its shares gained $1.03 to 35.93.

Nortel gained 14¢ to $6.05. Bombardier shares slipped 4¢ to $6.15 despite a $63-million tram contract with the city of Leipzig.

Dofasco fell 14¢ to $30.36. It said its third-quarter earnings would come in at the low end of estimates.

Shoppers Drug Mart shares fell 5¢ to $26.75 after it announced that it had refinanced $1.2 billion of its debt. The move will save the company $8 million a year.

Before the market opened, Statistics Canada reported 46,300 jobs were created in September, about six times what was forecast, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index jumped 25.22 points, or 1.81%, to close at 1,421.36.

On Wall Street, U.S. markets were held back by disappointing results from Dow component GE.

If not for GE, the Dow Jones industrial average would have finished in positive territory. At it was, the Dow slipped 5.33 points to 9,674.68.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 3.41 points to 1,915.31. The broader S&P 500 slipped 0.67 of a point to 1,038.06.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.1%, the Nasdaq climbed 1.9%, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.8%.

The upbeat September jobs report sent the Canadian dollar soaring to a near 10-year high. The loonie gained US1.04¢ to close at US75.73¢.