Toronto stocks staged a broad retreat on Friday, led lower by weakness in energy and materials issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 296.82 points, or 3.17%, at 9,055.96, after rising 4.8% on Thursday.

The index was down 5.6% for the week.

Eight of the 10 main TSX groups ended in the red, with consumer staples rose 0.08%, while utilities were up 0.3%.

The energy sector was a major source of weakness for the market, down 3.2% as the price of oil dropped to US$57.04 a barrel on expectations of further weakness in demand as the euro zone slipped into a recession.

EnCana shares fell 5.8% to $54.75.

The materials group was off 5.9%, helped lower by Agrium Inc., which retreated 7.4% at $40.49.

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan was down 4.2% at $86.12.

The information technology group sank 6.7% as RIM shares fell 7.9% to $49.37 and Nortel Networks dropped 17.8% at 74¢.

Among individual stocks, Canwest Global Communications shares sank 8.8% to 73¢ after the company posted a steep quarterly loss on TV writedowns.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index shed 11.98 points, or 1.47%, to 801.61.

The Canadian dollar gave up 0.94 of cent to close at US81.60¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks plunged once again as a record drop in retail sales highlighted fears about consumer spending and a deepening economic downturn.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 337.94 points, or 3.82%, to end at 8,497.31. The S&P 500 Index fell 38.00 points, or 4.17%, to finish at 873.29. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 79.85 points, or 5%, to close at 1,516.85.

For the week, the Dow lost 5%, while the S&P 500 dropped 6.2% and the Nasdaq tumbled 7.9%.