The Toronto Stock Exchange managed to shake off early-day declines and end with more strong gains on Friday, topping off a full week of gains for the benchmark index.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 9,270.62, up 516.85 points, or 5.9%. For the week, the index gained 13.7%.

All 10 main groups on the TSX posted gains, with financial firms leading the way at nearly 12% growth on Friday.

Manulife Financial Corp. shares soared $3.73, or 18.4%, to close at $24.00.

Royal Bank of Canada gained more than 11% to $43.18 and Toronto-Dominion Bank moved up 9.6% to $46.00.

Also sharply higher were Bank of Nova Scotia, up 13% to $37.00 and Bank of Montreal, up 7.2% to $38.00.

Members of the energy group managed some impressive gains of their own, rising 4.1% overall, despite oil futures remaining flat for the day.

Crude for December delivery closed at US$54.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down one cent, after slumping 6% to US$51.12 in intraday trading.

Petro-Canada shares surged more than 12% to $33.73 and Suncor Energy Inc. gained 6.5% to $28.60.

EnCana Corp. moved higher by 6.2% to $60.00.

Nexen Inc. fell 2% to $25.50, following a hefty gain Thursday on rumours of a possible takeover.

Gold for December delivery rose US$7.70, or 1%, to close at US$816.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, it gained 3.1%–its fourth straight week of gains. In the month, gold advanced 14%, the biggest percentage gain since September 1999.

The sub-gold index rose 2.6%.

The boost in gold futures helped the materials group trend higher by 3.2%.

Goldcorp Inc. gained 4.2% to finish at $35.00 and Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. ended at $48.59, up 5.6%.

Cameco Corp. gained 50 cents, or 2.3% to $22.15 after it announced it would suspend production of uranium hexafluoride at its Port Hope, Ont. plant, as a result of “unreliable and expensive” deliveries of hydrofluoric acid.

Shares of Uranium One Inc. surged 15.2% to $1.29 after the company eased back its stake in its joint-venture properties with Pitchstone Exploration Ltd. in the eastern Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan.

BCE Inc. shares continued their descent two days after news that its December takeover may fail to go through. The shares declined 1.1% to $24.95.

The real estate index on the TSX moved significantly higher Friday, up nearly 10% with gains among all components.

Junior companies on the TSX Venture exchange gained 18.12 points, or 2.4% to close at 766.35.

The Canadian dollar moved lower by US0.39¢ on Friday, finishing the week at US80.84¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose on Friday in thin volume after the American Thanksgiving holiday.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 102.43 points, or 1.17%, to end at 8,829.04. The S&P 500 advanced 8.56 points, or 0.96%, to finish at 896.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 3.47 points, or 0.23%, to close at 1,535.57.

The U.S. stock market’s session ended at 13:00 ET.

For the week, the Dow gained 9.7%, while the S&P 500 jumped 12% and the Nasdaq surged 10.9%.

However, for the month of November, the Dow lost 5.3% for November, the S&P 500 fell 7.5%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 10.8%.

IE