Gold Shares Surge, Helping TSX Higher -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Toronto's main index rose Friday, as surging gold shares helped offset significant weakness among energy stocks.

An eventful day in the markets was highlighted by an upbeat U.S. jobs report that may convince the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this month.

The U.S. economy added 211,000 new jobs in November and the nation's unemployment rate held at 5%.

On the other hand, the Canadian unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1% as the economy shed jobs.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 34.10 points, or 0.26%, to 13358.77.

Energy stocks dropped 2.3% as OPEC said it will refrain cutting production.

West Texas Intermediate futures for January fell $1.11, or 2.7%, to settle at $39.97 a barrel, back near its lowest since August.

In merger news from the oil patch, Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) said its board of directors has unanimously rejected Canadian Pacific's (CP, CP.TO) unsolicited takeover bid.

CP shares slipped 4.3%.

Meanwhile, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) has extended its hostile $4.3-billion takeover bid for Canadian Oil Sands Ltd.

Suncor lost 1.8%, while Canadian Oil Sands rose 2.6%.