D1

By MALCOLM MORRISON
The Canadian Press

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market closed higher Thursday with investors getting some good news prior to the release on Friday of the main piece of economic data for the week - the U.S. government's October non-farms payroll report.

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 109.5 points to 11,180.7 with all sectors ahead, led by gains in the telecom and base metals.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.17 of a cent to 93.83 cents US.

Investors were relieved by a U.S. Labour Department report that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in 10 months. Claims came in at 512,000, much better than economists' estimates of 523,000.

Still, companies are reluctant to hire and economists expect the U.S. unemployment rate will tick up a 10th of a percentage point to 9.9 per cent. It is also expected that another 175,000 Americans lost their jobs in October.

Canadian jobs data also comes out Friday. Economists believe the economy added 10,000 jobs last month but the jobless rate is expected to remain at 8.4 per cent.

The base metals sector advanced 1.3 per cent even as December copper eased four cents to $2.957 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) improved $1.54 to $33.38 while HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) gained 18 cents to $16.03.