North American stocks fell Friday, as soaring oil prices and poor U.S. economic news spooked investors. The S&P/TSX composite index shed 16.79 points, or 0.16%, to finish 10,683.10.

Volume on the senior exchange was 264 million shares.

For the week, the TSX benchmark index rose 1.2%.

Light sweet crude for September delivery gained US$1.06 to settle at a record high of US$66.86 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude peaked at US$67.10 in intra-day trading.

Despite the run up in oil prices, the energy sector lost 0.56%, as investors moved to lock in profits.

PetroKazakhstan Inc. fell $1.72, or 3.80%, to $43.53, while UTS Energy Corp. fell 30¢, or 6.79%, to $4.12.

The materials group dropped 0.51%.

Bema Gold Corp. reported a loss of US$12.3 million in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year ago. Its shares fell 11¢, or 3.53%, to $3.01.

The information technology sector finished up 1.44%. Nortel Networks gained 22¢, or 5.82%, to finish at $4.00.

In economic news, Statistics Canada reported the country’s trade surplus increased to just over $4.9 billion in June. That’s up from a revised $4.4 billion in May.

This cemented expectations the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates in September, and compared well to a U.S. trade deficit that widened 6.1% to US$58.8 billion, beyond analysts’ expectations for a trade gap of US$57.3 billion,

The Canadian dollar rose 0.27 of a cent to close at US83.55¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 8.08, or 0.42%, to close 1,916.77.

In New York, markets were bearish on news of the U.S.’s ever-widening trade deficit.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 85.58, or 0.80%, to 10,600.31 after rising 91.48 Thursday. The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index dropped 17.65, or 0.8%, to 2,156.90. The S&P500 index fell 7.42, or 0.60%, to 1,230.39.

A weak revenue outlook from computer maker Dell Inc.pressured technology shares.

Shares of Dell, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, dropped 7.4% to US$36.64.

Computer hardware was one of the hardest hit sectors in the S&P 500, with Dell rivals Gateway Inc. falling 1% to US$3.81 and Hewlett-Packard Co. slipping nearly 1% to $24.03.

For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 closed in positive territory for the week. The Dow rose 0.4% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.32%.