The Toronto stock market was higher Friday amid data showing the Canadian economy grew faster than expected during June and higher prices for oil and metals.

However, the strength of the day's trading will hinge largely on market reception to a much-anticipated speech by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and whether he signals another round of economic stimulus is in the works.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 55.37 points to 11,942.02, while the TSX Venture Exchange was 4.01 points higher to 1,221.97.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.5 of a cent to 101.28 cents US as Statistics Canada said gross domestic product increased by 0.2 per cent, against the 0.1 per cent rise that economists had expected. This translated into a 0.5 per cent gain for the second quarter with growth helped along by rising business investment.

The agency reported that GDP expanded at an annual rate of 1.8 per cent in the April-June period, slightly better than the 1.7 per cent pace recorded in the U.S.

U.S. markets also made solid advances, with the Dow Jones industrials up 110.65 points to 13,111.36.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 17.89 points to 3,066.6 and the S&P 500 index ran up 9.51 points to 1,408.99.

Traders had been encouraged for much of August that signs of a slowing global economy in mid-summer indicated that central banks would step in with more stimulus to keep the recovery on track.