After approaching 15,000 in morning trade, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark index closed just below that mark on Friday.

The S&P/TSX Composite index closed up 156.14 points, or 1.05%, at 14,984.20.

Seven of the 10 major TSX groups fell today, highlighting the fact that commodities stocks buoyed the broader market.

The energy group was the big gainer for the day, closing up 2.94%, as the June crude contract closed up US$2.17, at US$126.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude futures were up 0.3% for the week.

Shares in market heavyweight Encana Corp. closed up $2.20, or 2.39%, at $94.20 and Suncor Energy Inc. shares gained $2.65, or 4.08%, to end at $67.53.

The material group close up 1.79%, as the gold sub-index gained 2.9%,

Gold for June delivery gained US$19.90, or 2.3%, to close at US$899.90. The contract gained 1.6% for the week.

Barrick Gold Corp. shares closed up $1.13, or 2.89%, at $40.18 and Goldcorp Inc. stock closed up $1.11 or 2.76%, at $41.31.

Meanwhile, the base metals sector closed up 1.38% as Equinox Minerals Co. shares gained 24¢, or 5.05%, to end at $4.99 on a heavy day of trading.

The financials group was a weak spot today, closing down 0.38% for the day.

Royal Bank of Canada shares closed down 13¢, or 0.26%, at $50.50. Meanwhile, TD Bank Financial shares gained 61¢, or 0.89%, to close at $69.12.

In other Canadian corporate news, shares in Rothmans Inc. closed unchanged, after it announced an 18% rise in annual earnings to $117.6 million.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 35.24 points, or 1.37%, at 2,611.32.

The Canadian dollar closed out at par with the greenback today.

In New York, markets closed mainly down but did manage to pare most of the day’s earlier losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 5.86 points, or 0.05%, at 12,986.80.

The S&P 500 closed up 1.78 points, or 0.13%, to close at 1425.35, while, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 4.88 points, or 0.19%, to 2,528.85.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes climbed 8.2% in April, beating expectations. However, the University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index came in at 59.5, which is its lowest reading since 1980.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.9%, the S&P gained 2.7%, and the Nasdaq rose 3.4%.