Toronto stocks finished flat on Friday, as gains in energy shares offset weakness in financial issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 5.93 points, or 0.04%, at 13,530.36.

The benchmark index was down 2.4% on the week and has lost 7.5% since the start of November.

Six of the 10 TSX main groups closed lower on Friday.

The energy group finished 0.4% higher as the price of oil rose $1.67 to US$95.10 a barrel, helped by short-covering ahead of the expiration of December futures and by a weaker U.S. dollar.

Suncor Energy was up $1.35, or 1.4%, at $99.50, and Petro-Canada gained 51¢, or 1%, to $51.64, with the sector.

The heavyweight financials group, under pressure from writedowns at Canadian and U.S. banks, fell 0.3%.

Bank of Montreal shares fell 46¢, or 0.8%, at $56.66, after the bank said it will take charges that result partly from securities hit by the credit crunch.

Royal Bank also announced writedowns connected with the credit crisis in the past week.

Bank of Nova Scotia dipped 54¢, or 1.1%, to $49.55.

The consumer staples sector fell 1.5%, dragged down by a decline in Loblaw Cos. Loblaw shares fell nearly 3%, down $1.01 at $34.54, as analysts cut their stock-price targets a day after the company posted disappointing results.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 7.37 points, or 0.25%, to end at 2,937.20.

In New York, U.S. ended higher after a day of sharp price swings.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.74 points, or 0.51%, to close at 13,176.79. The S&P 500 gained 7.59 points, or 0.52%, to end at 1,458.74. The Nasdaq composite index added 18.73 points, or 0.72%, to finish at 2,637.24.

For the week, the Dow gained 1.03%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each ended up 0.35%.