Toronto stocks were pushed up by rising prices for gold and oil on Friday, but it wasn’t enough of a boost to make up for losses throughout the rest of the week.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 156.82 points, or 1.24%, to finish at 12,769.58. For the week, the index was down 46.84 points.

Hurricane Ike’s charge towards Texas pushed wholesale gasoline prices up sharply, but oil prices were headed in the opposite direction for part of the day, briefly sinking below US$100 a barrel for the first time since April. Crude oil futures finished the day up 0.5% at $101.18 a barrel.

The TSX energy index rose 2.9% for the day.

This was helped by CHC Helicopter Corp.’s 3.9% rise to $32.57 after reports that the sale of the company to First Reserve Corp. will close Sept. 16. CHC is the world’s largest provider of helicopter services to the global offshore oil and gas industry.

Friday’s commodity strength helped the Canadian dollar rise for the first time in a week, closing up more than 1¢ at US94.24¢.

The materials group had a strong day, up 8.2%. This was helped by a 15.9% increase in Agnico Eagle Mines, which closed at $56.14 thanks to higher gold prices.

Gold for December delivery climbed US$19, or 2.5%, to close at $764.50 an ounce on the Nymex. Despite this gain, gold is down US$38.30, or 4.8% for the week overall.

The TSX gold sub-index was up almost 10% on Friday.

It was a tough day for the financials group in Toronto, which fell 1.26%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 43.71 points, or 2.8%, at 1,607.53.

In New York, large financial companies in the S&P 500 were also down 1%. This was led by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which dropped 13.5% to US$3.65. The shares have lost almost 95% of their value so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 11.72 points, or 0.1%, at 11,421.99. The S&P 500 was up 2.64 points, or 0.21%, at 1,251.69. The Nasdaq composite index was up 3.05 points, or 0.14%, at 2,261.27.

For the week, the Dow finished 1.8% higher while the S&P added 0.8% and the Nasdaq edged up 0.2%.