Falling commodity prices sent the Toronto Stock Exchange lower on Friday, but the benchmark index still managed to pull off a fourth consecutive week of gains.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 69.15 points, or 0.6%, to close at 10,644.96. For the week, the index advanced about 0.7%.

Dragging the index lower was the materials group, down 1.6%, and the sub-gold index, lower by 1.9% as gold futures dropped. August gold fell US$21.30, or 2.2%, to US$940.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold ended the week down roughly 2.3%.

Shares of Goldcorp Inc. slipped 2.3% to $39.05.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. fell $2.12, or 3.4%, to $60.55, and Kinross Gold Inc. shares fell 3.8% to $19.68.

Also lower was First Quantum Minerals Ltd., down $1.96, or 3.3% to $57.08.

Oil futures also dropped on Friday as OPEC forecast that demand for its crude this year would average 28.6 million barrels a day, down 2.2 million barrels from 2008. The news sent July crude futures down 64 cents, or 0.9%, to end at US$72.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Still, the contract finished with weekly gains for a fourth consecutive week, up a sharp 5.3%.

On the TSX, energy stocks fell 1.2%.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. finished the day at $64.71, down $1.29, or 2%.

EnCana Corp. shares slipped 1.6% to $61.99 and Petro-Canada’s stock fell 1.1% to $49.33.

Shares of Husky Energy Inc. retreated 1.5% to $35.15.

Financial stocks slipped 0.6% on Friday.

Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. fell 2.3% to $24.25.

Power Corp. dipped 2.9% to $25.57 and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. fell $7.34, or 2.6%, to $277.66.

Higher for the day was National Bank of Canada, up 1.1% to $54.79, and Bank of Montreal, higher by 28 cents to $45.60.

In the information technology group, shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped $1.56, or 1.7%, to close at $92.80. The group overall was flat for the day.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture index finished in positive territory on Friday, adding 6.49 points, or 0.6%, to close at 1,154.81.

The Canadian dollar tumbled more than a cent on Friday, to close at US89.45¢.

In New York, U.S. markets finished mainly flat on Friday, failing to get a boost from data showing that U.S. consumer confidence climbed slightly higher in June.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.34 points, or 0.3%, to 8,799.26. For the week, the blue-chip average edged up 0.4%.

The S&P 500 index added 1.32 points, a gain of 0.1%, to stand at 946.21, up 0.7% from its week-ago close.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 3.57 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 1,858.80. It finished down 0.5% for the week.

IE