Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market headed for a higher open Friday as data showed far less U.S. job creation than expected last month along with a sharp drop in the jobless rate.

The U.S. Labour Department reported that the economy created 36,000 jobs, far less than the 130,000 or so that had been expected.

But the unemployment rate fell from 9.4% in December to nine per cent in January.

Revisions also showed that the U.S. economy created about 40,000 more jobs than thought in November and December.

New York futures were higher following the news with the Dow industrial futures ahead 26 points to 12,035, the Nasdaq futures gained 6.8 points to 2,328.5 while the S&P 500 futures rose 3.5 points to 1,306.8.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar was up 0.57 of a cent to 101.48 cents US after Statistics Canada reported that the economy generated just over 69,000 new jobs last month, spread across most of the country and evenly split between full-time and part-time. That was far higher than the expectations for around 21,000 new jobs.

However, the unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a point to 7.8% as more people returned to the work force.

Beyond the Canadian jobs data, the TSX could find additional support from the energy sector at the open as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 40 cents to US$90.94 a barrel.

Investors also continued to monitor violent anti-government protests in Egypt.

The unrest in Egypt has left a significant mark on oil prices, which are up more than six per cent over the past week, reflecting continuing battles in Cairo involving supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak. Shipping through Egypt’s Suez Canal has not been disrupted, but investors are also concerned that political instability could spread to oil rich countries in the Middle East.

Metal prices were mixed with the March copper contract on the Nymex up two cents to US$4.56 a pound while the April gold contract declined $3 to US$1,350.

Much of Asia was on a break from trading for the Lunar New Year holidays. Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan were closed.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average, meanwhile, rose one per cent.

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.48%, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.33% while Frankfurt’s DAX was ahead 0.38%.