Toronto stocks closed higher Friday, getting a boost from gold and other resource shares. The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 26.04 points to close at 6,379.48. On the week, For the week, it lost 156.42 points.

Friday’s volume was 179 million shares, advances beat declines 568 to 491 with 187 unchanged.

Toronto’s gains were led by an impressive 6.8% rise in gold stocks and a 3.2% climb among natural resource-based materials stocks. Energy stocks edged up 0.6%.

Gold stocks moved higher as the price of the metal advanced. Gold futures in New York rose $3.10 an ounce to US$332.40.

Barrick Gold climbed $1.31 to $22.71, while Goldcorp gained $1.55 to $15.50.

Base metals stocks also climbed. Inco jumped $1.25 to $27.60 while Alcan rose 88¢ to $42.19.

The TSX Industrial group dipped 0.95%, as Bombardier continued its slide, falling 21¢ to $2.71.

The TSX Venture composite index rose 7.19 points to close at 1,051.29, on a volume of 34 million shares.

In New York, investors worried about a drawn-out war with Iraq sold stocks lower for the third straight day Friday, snapping Wall Street’s two week winning streak.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 55.68, or 0.7%, at 8,145.77.For the week, the blue chips lost 4.4%.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 14.73, or 1.1%, to 1,369.52., while the S&P 500 declined 5.04, or 0.6%, to 863.48.

For the week, the Nasdaq gave back 3.7%and the S&P forfeited 3.6%.

Economic news contributed to Friday’s declines. The Commerce Department reported consumer spending was flat for a second straight month in February as people clamped down amid job and war worries and higher energy prices.

As well, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for March fell to 77.6 from 79.9. Economists had expectedwar worries to erode sentiment even further.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.37 of a cent to US67.99¢.