Canada's main stock index rallied on Friday as index heavyweights like energy and mining shone, while BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) shares suffered its biggest one-day drop in two-and-a-half years after disappointing first quarter sales.

BlackBerry reported an unexpected 4.7-per-cent drop in revenue from its software and services business, whose success is at the heart of Chief Executive John Chen's turnaround plan for the company.

Shares tumbled 12.3 per cent to $12.86, with the overall technology group gave up 0.5 per cent.

Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) rose 1.2 per cent to $52.22, while Suncor Energy (SU.TO) advanced 1.1 per cent to $38.52 as oil prices bounced from 10-month lows on the back of a softer U.S. dollar.

The overall energy group saw a robust 1.4 per cent gain. U.S. crude prices were up 0.8 per cent to US$43.1 a barrel, while Brent crude added 1.0 per cent to US$45.66.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 99.66 points, or 0.65 per cent, to finish at 15,319.56. The index gained 0.83 per cent on the week.

Eight of the index's 10 main groups finished in positive territory.

Paul Taylor, CIO of fundamental equities at BMO Asset Management Inc, said there was widespread strength across the board.

"It's just a bit of a continued rally coming out of the 'Oracle of Omaha' betting with his dollars in favor of Canada housing. It's a pretty strong endorsement," said Taylor, referring to news on Thursday that billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc made a commitment to provide financing for troubled alternative mortgage lender Home Capital Group.

Home Capital (HCG.TO) jumped as much as 9.2 per cent on Friday before seeing some profit-taking. Shares ended down 2.1 per cent at $18.61. The overall financials group, which accounts for about a third of the index's weight gained 0.2 per cent.

The materials group, home to miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.8 per cent, with Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) climbing 2.7 per cent to $21.86. Teck Resources (TECKb.TO) climbing 4.6 per cent to $21.97.

Gold prices touched a one-week high as the weaker greenback and global geopolitical uncertainties boosted the precious metal. Gold futures rose 0.7 per cent to US$1,256.2 an ounce. Copper prices advanced 1.0 per cent to US$5,800 a tonne.

In economic data, Canada's annual inflation rate cooled more than expected last month, reducing the likelihood of an interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada in July.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the TSX by 200 to 44, for a 4.55-to-1 ratio on the upside.

U.S. MARKETS

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday after a last-minute trading spike and a technology sector gain offset weakness in financial stocks and sent the Nasdaq higher, giving it a weekly gain for the first time in three weeks.

The energy sector rebounded and finished the strongest of the S&P's 11 sectors with a 0.8-per-cent rise as oil prices came back from multi-month lows.

Bank stocks ended lower even after they passed their annual stress test as some results were weaker than expected and investors focused on a flattening yield curve.

The health-care rally faded on Friday as investors tried to decipher whether a Senate Republican bill to replace Obamacare, released Thursday, would gain enough support to pass.

The sector closed down 0.1 per cent, clawing back some losses after it dropped sharply late in the session when Republican Senator Dean Heller became the fifth U.S. Republican senator to say he would not support a health-care bill unveiled by his party on Thursday. The sector still closed 3.6 per cent higher for the week.

Trading volume jumped just before the close due to FTSE Russell's completion of the annual refresh of its benchmarks.

"The effect is going to be focused on small-caps but there's an echo of that in large caps," said Don Townswick, Director of Equity Strategy at Conning & Co in Hartford, Connecticut who noted that most rebalance-related trading is around the close.

More than 10.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 7.2 billion average for the last 20 sessions.

Oil prices edged up Friday after hitting their lowest point since August earlier in the week, but showed an almost 20 per cent year-to-date drop as production cuts have failed to reduce oversupply.

Even after Friday's gains, the energy sector posted its worst weekly decline since September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.53 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 21,394.76, the S&P 500 gained 3.8 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 2,438.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 28.57 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 6,265.25.

For the week, the Dow added 0.05 per cent, the S&P rose 0.21 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.84 per cent.

Big technology stocks, including Apple (AAPL.O), Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) , were the S&P 500's biggest boosts on the day and sent up the tech sector 0.7 per cent.

The S&P financial index, fell 0.47 per cent, with pressure from banking stocks after the stress test results and ahead of the second part of their test due on Wednesday.

"It is a sell-on-the-news effect," said R.J. Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York. "It might get people back to focusing on things like the yield curve."

Instead, investors favoured growth sectors such as tech.

"People are making bets that rates will stay lower for longer and the economy will kind of muddle along and have very tepid growth," said Grant.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.14-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.85-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.