Toronto stocks finished flat Friday as investors responded to a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report and record high oil prices. The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 10.49 points or 0.12% at 8,814.89 on volume of 273 million shares.

Crude oil built on Thursday’s record high, adding 64¢ to settle at US$53.31 per barrel, on continued supply concerns.

The Canadian dollar broke through the US80¢ level Friday for the first time in more than 11 years, on the sharp contrast between September jobs reports in the U.S. and Canada.

The dollar touched US80.01¢ around 11:00 ET before slipping back to close at US79.87¢, up 0.59 of a cent.

The Canadian economy created another 43,000 jobs in September, pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.1% from 7.2% in August, Statistics Canada said today.

Four of the 10 TSX groups closed, with the largest gains in the materials group, up 0.61%.

Materials got a boost from gold stocks, which rose 1.63%, as investors dumped U.S. dollars for gold in response to the weak jobs report.

Wheaton River, the session’s most active stock, jumped 10¢ or 2.52% to $4.07. Iamgold was ahead 25¢ or 2.42% at $10.60.

There were slight gains in the heavily weighted financial services index as consumer discretionary stocks and utilities.

Energy issues eased 0.33% as investors locked in profits, and technology shares fell 2.01%.

Among individual stocks, Forzani Group said it slashing its full-year profit forecast after a disappointing back-to-school sales season. Full-year earnings now are expected to be “similar to” last year’s 86¢ a share, the firm said Friday, down from a previous forecast of $1.02 to $1.10. Forzani shares fell $1.15 or 9.5% to $10.93.

Lorus Therapeutics said it reduced its first-quarter loss to $6.2 million from $8.2 million as clinical trials of a key drug advanced, and the firm sharply cut research and development expenses. Lorus shares rose 3¢ to 79¢.

In other health-care news, Eugene Melnyk stepped aside Thursday as chief executive of Biovail. Melnyk will stay as Biovail’s chairman and remains the largest shareholder of the firm. Biovail shares climbed 67¢ or 2.85% to $24.17.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index bucked the downtrend to rise 18.86 points or 1.13% to 1,696.15.

On Wall Street, stocks fell as oil prices climbed above US$53 a barrel and a report showied slower-than-expected job growth in September.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 70.20 points or 0.69% at 10,055.20.

The S&P 500 finished off 8.51 or 0.75% to 1,122.14, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended down 28.55 or 1.47% at 1,919.97.

For the week, the Dow fell 1.4%, while the Nasdaq shed 1.1% and the S&P 500 dipped 0.8%.

Canadian markets will be closed Monday for Canada’s Thanksgiving holiday. U.S. stock markets will be open, but bond markets will not.