After spending most of the day in negative territory, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange recovered to finish with modest gains on Friday, despite declines in commodity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 10,848.01, up 22.45 points, or 0.2%. The benchmark index closed with a small weekly decline of 0.3%.

Financial stocks edged up 0.5% on Friday.

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada gained 1.3% to $51.36 and Canadian Western Bank rose 2% to $18.59.

Lower for the day was IGM Financial Inc., down 2.3% to $42.27 and Power Corp., off 1.6% to $27.70.

Meanwhile, a hefty drop in oil futures pulled the energy group lower by 0.5%. Crude for September delivery fell US$3.01, or 4.3%, to end at US$67.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices posted a weekly decline of 4.8%.

Suncor Energy Inc. slipped 1.7% to $35.84 and Imperial Oil Ltd. retreated by 1.3% to $40.00.

EnCana Corp. fell 1.1% to $56.56.

Higher for the day was Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., up 2.5% to $12.92.

The materials group and the sub-gold index each finished down 0.6% on Friday as gold futures retreated. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery fell US$7.70, or 0.8%, to US$947. The contract ended the week down 1.1%.

Kinross Gold Corp. dipped 2% to $21.06 and Goldcorp Inc. finished at $39.01, off 1.3%.

Inmet Mining Corp. dropped $1.41, or 2.9%, to $47.00.

FNX Mining Company Inc. saw its stock jump 5.4% after it reported that second-quarter profits rose to $12.5 million from $11.3 million a year earlier. The company’s shares gained 51 cents to close at $9.88.

Shares of Quadra Mining Ltd. fell 2.2%, a day after the company reported that weaker copper production levels resulted in a net loss in the second quarter. Quadra’s stock shed 28 cents to close at $12.23.

Friday’s top performing sectors included the telecommunications group, up 1.3%, and the consumer discretionary group, up 1.2%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished down 7.08 points, or 0.6%, at 1,193.42.

The Canadian dollar fell by nearly a cent to close at US90.93¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks finished lower on Friday after new data showed that consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell this month to levels much worse than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 76.79 points, or 0.8%, to 9,321.40, down 0.5% for the week.

The S&P 500 index sank 8.64 points, or 0.9%, to 1,004.09. It lost 0.6% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index sank 23.83 points, or 1.2%, to 1,985.52, for a weekly loss of 0.7%.

IE