The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> closed up 68.99 points, or 0.42 percent, at 16,353.46.

For the week, the index rose 0.3 percent.

Some of the most influential movers on the index were the country's major banks. Royal Bank of Canada (>> Royal Bank of Canada) rose 0.8 percent to C$107.72, while Toronto-Dominion Bank (>> Toronto-Dominion Bank) added 0.4 percent to C$74.08.

The overall financial services group, which accounts for more than one-third of the TSX's weight, gained 0.6 percent, while the materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.8 percent.

Barrick Gold Corp (>> Barrick Gold Corp) climbed 1.6 percent to C$17.99. Gold futures rose 0.5 percent to $1,333 an ounce. [GOL/]

Industrials advanced 1.2 percent as railroad stocks gained ground.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (>> Canadian Pacific Railway Limited) was up 2.8 percent at C$233.40 after the company reported on Thursday fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates.

Canadian manufacturing sales jumped 3.4 percent in November, their biggest increase in 2-1/2 years, on strength in transportation equipment and petroleum and coal products, Statistics Canada said.

Nine of the index's 10 main groups gained.

Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd (>> Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd) climbed nearly 7 percent to C$17.91 after Canada's National Energy Board on Thursday set out a process for resolving permit disputes related to the company's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.

Still, the energy group fell 0.4 percent. U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.9 percent lower at $63.37 a barrel.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Nick Zieminski and James Dalgleish)