Toronto stocks finished higher Friday even as oil prices fell by more than US$2 a barrel and energy stocks dropped after hurricane Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 storm.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 33.56 points at 10,904.31, held back by falling energy shares but boosted by higher mining and tech stocks.

The index lost 86.28 points this week.

Toronto market volume was 331.08 million shares worth $5.49 billion.

Crude oil dipped as traders grew less concerned about the storm’s potential to batter the U.S. oil industry

The November contract for light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell US$2.31 to US$64.19.

The TSX energy sector was down 2.1% as Petro-Canada lost $1.05 to $47.51.

Shares in Nexen Inc. backed off $2.01 to $55.45 after the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said it was selling 7.5 million of its shares in the oil and gas company.

Shares in Precision Drilling Corp. were off 89¢ to $56.35. The company said Thursday it will go ahead with plans to convert into an income trust, despite Ottawa’s decision to withhold advance tax rulings on conversions.

The metals and mining sector was up 2.3% as Inco Ltd. advanced $1.26 to $52.91.

Falconbridge Ltd. has adopted a poison pill to thwart undesired takeovers and stop Swiss miner Xstrata PLC from scooping up any more of the company’s stock. Falconbridge shares rose 71¢ to $29.46.

Teck Cominco Ltd. stock rose $1.80 to $52 after it announced plans to extend the life of its Highland Valley Copper mine near Kamloops, B.C., by about five years – to September 2013.

Information technology stocks giving lift to the TSX included Research in Motion Inc., $2.31 to $92.30, and Celestica Inc., 49¢ to $13.45. The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 7.65 points, or 0.37%, to 2,074.73.

The Canadian dollar edged down as the price of oil retreated. The loonie finished at US85.38¢, down from US85.43¢, at Thursday’s close.

U.S. stocks closed slightly higher on Friday on news that Hurricane Rita weakened before it approached landfall, while a profit warning from Alcoa Inc, the world’s largest aluminum producer, dragged on blue-chip shares.


The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 2.46 points, or 0.02%, at 10,419.59. The S&P 500 index was up 0.67 of a point, or 0.06%, at 1,215.29. The technology-laced Nasdaq composite index rose 6.06 points, or 0.29%, to 2,116.84.

For the week, the Dow ended down 2%, the S&P fell 1.8% and the Nasdaq declined 2%.