Spurred by news from Cisco Systems that its business may be starting to stabilize, investors south of the boarder snapped up tech stocks on Friday.

Toronto stocks also benefited from the renewed optimism, the TSE 300 closed up 87.55 points at 7,629.96.

Eight of the TSE 300’s 14 sub-indices closed higher. The industrial products group, home of Canada’s technology stocks, climbed 2.46%, while the metals and minerals index rose 3.11%.

Among the industrials, Celestica jumped $4.55, or 8%, to $64.20, and Research In Motion gained $2.14, or almost 8%, to $29.60. Nortel Networks closed up 60 cents at $10.88.

In the metals and minerals sector, Alcan gained $1.95 to $58.40, while Inco added $1.21 to $26.90.

Among today’s loses, the utilities sub-index slipped 0.35% and real estate finished down 0.68%.

Volume was decent for a Friday in August, with 128 million shares changing hands. Market momentum was positive with 580 advances, 448 declines and 206 issues closing unchanged.

The CDNX Index closed up 23.94 at 3,074.95. Trading was active on a volume of 34.5 million shares, with 206 advances, 146 declines and 515 issues unchanged.

Tech stocks benefited hugely from the Cisco announcement. The Nasdaq composite index gained a healthy 4%, adding 73.83 points to 1,916.80, as it crossed the 1,900 mark.

Blue chips also did well as the Dow Jones industrial average soared 194.02 points to 10,423.17. The S&P 500 added 22.84 points to 1,184.93.