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TSX ends up 0.7% at 24,758.76

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Energy gains 2.4% as oil settles up 1%

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MDA Space ( MDALF ) jumps 17.7%

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Canada adds fewer jobs than expected

(Updates at market close)

By Fergal Smith

March 7 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index clawed

back some of its weekly decline on Friday as higher oil prices

boosted energy shares, with the market rallying despite domestic

jobs data that undershot expectations and the latest U.S. tariff

threat.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index

ended up 174.72 points, or 0.7%, at 24,758.76. For the

week, the index was down 2.5%, its biggest weekly decline since

December.

U.S. President Donald Trump railed against what he called

tremendously high Canadian tariffs on dairy and lumber, and said

his administration could impose reciprocal tariffs on Canadian

products as early as Friday.

"It's a constant barrage of tariff headlines," said Angelo

Kourkafas, a senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.

"We have this looming uncertainty of what's going to be the

impact on the labor market for tariffs but likely today's data

solidifies an expectation that we are going to see the Bank of

Canada cut rates next week."

Canada's unemployment rate held steady at 6.6% in February

but new job additions were only marginally up, falling well

short of the 20,000 increase that analysts had forecast.

Investors see a 75% chance the Bank of Canada will cut its

benchmark interest rate a further 25 basis points on March 12,

after lowering the rate in January to 3%.

U.S. job growth picked up in February, but cracks are

emerging in the once-resilient labor market amid rising

uncertainty over trade policy and deep federal government

spending cuts.

The energy sector rose 2.4% as the price of oil recouped

some recent declines. U.S. crude oil futures settled 1% higher

at $67.04 a barrel.

Utilities added 1.5% as bond yields fell and heavily

weighted financials ended 0.6% higher.

Shares of MDA Space Ltd ( MDALF ) jumped 17.7% after the

space technology company forecast first-quarter revenue above

estimates.