After a rough start to the day, the Toronto Stock Exchange managed a recovery into positive territory that helped it finish the week nearly 5% higher than last Friday’s close.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 123.55 points on Friday, or 1.47%, to finish at 8,515.45.

Material companies led the rebound, gaining 3.7%.

The sub-gold index rallied 4.9% despite a fall in gold futures on Friday. Gold for February delivery ended down US$6.10, or 0.74%, at US$820.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But throughout the week, gold futures gained US$68.30, or 9%, from last Friday’s closing level.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. shares soared $4.10, or 9.3%, to $48.51.

Kinross Gold Corp. shares gained 6.1% to end at $20.49 and Goldcorp Inc. rose 3.5% to finish at $34.79.

Financial companies bounced back from morning losses to finish the day up 3.4%.

Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. soared $2.27 –nearly 12% — to close at $21.25.

Bank of Nova Scotia climbed 2.1% to $30.90 and Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 2.8% to $41.64.

Crude oil for January delivery fell US$1.70, or 3.5%, to end at US$46.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as news sank in that the US$14 billion rescue plan for the Big Three automakers had failed. For the week, oil futures were up US$5.47, or 13.4%, from last Friday’s close.

News throughout the day that the U.S. government was exploring alternative options to aid the ailing auto sector helped energy stocks move higher, but the group still finished down 0.4% on the TSX.

Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. fell 3.2% to $20.25.

Petro-Canada shares slipped 1.5% to $28.55 and Nexen Inc. dropped 3.6% to $21.25.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. managed to move higher by 2.7% $45.96.

BCE Inc. saw its shares tumble another 3.6% following Thursday’s news that its privatization deal had officially collapsed. The company announced Friday that it would buy back up to 5% of its common shares. Its stock closed at $21.23.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 5.1 points, or 0.7% to finish at 718.54.

The Canadian dollar shifted down by more than a cent against the American dollar. It closed at US79.92¢. Throughout the week, the loonie gained US1.25¢.

American stock markets were given a boost by hopes that the Bush administration would prop up the automakers following the failure of the rescue plan.

The Dow Jones industrial average moved higher by 42.45 points, or 0.75%, to finish at 8,629.68. It ended the week down 0.1% from last Friday’s close.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 32.84 points, or 2.2%, to end at 1,540.72. Throughout the week the index gained 2.1%.

The S&P 500 index increased by 6.14 points, or 0.7%, to close at 879.73. It rose 0.4% throughout the week.

Shares of General Motors Corp., which started the day trading deep in the red on the New York Stock Exchange, trended higher to finish down 5.2% at US$3.94. It announced Friday that it would cut 250,000 vehicles from its first-quarter production schedule by temporarily closing 21 factories across North America.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. recovered from early-day losses on the NYSE to end at US$3.04, up 4.8%.

IE