Toronto stocks erased managed to end higher on Friday as investors headed into the weekend. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 27.91 points at 8,583.81. The benchmark index was off 8.23 points on the week.

Volume was heavy as 290.6 million shares changed hands. Advances beat declines 684 to 561 with 212 unchanged.

The materials group, which includes gold stocks, gained 0.54%, while the heavily weighted financial services sector rose 0.38%.

Among financial issues, Brascan gained 74¢ to $50.14.

The rise came as a Morgan Stanley-led consortium raised its offer for Canary Wharf to $3.1 billion on Friday, trumping an earlier offer by Brascan.

Bank of Montreal rose 79¢ to $53.84 while Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, and TD Bank all hit fresh yearly highs.

Among gold issues, Gabriel Resources rose 46¢ to $3.60 on renewed takeover rumors

Agnico-Eagle Mines declined 67¢ to $18.72 on news it faces an Ontario Securities Commission probe over the timing of a news release about a mine rockfall last March..

The technology stocks were mixed with Celestica off 91¢ to $20.80 and Zarlink Semiconductor down 17¢ to $4.87.

However, Nortel Networks finished up 21¢ to $7.43 after an executive said the company is “very confident that our wireless revenues will grow faster than the market.”

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 16.07 points to close at 1,874.44.

In New York, markets closed down closed lower as investors continued to keep an anxious eye on events unfolding on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where U.S. and Pakistani troops launched new attacks on Taliban and suspected al Qaeda leaders.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 109.18 points, or 1.06%, at 10,186.60. The S&P 500 gave up 12.58 points, or 1.12%, at 1,109.74. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 21.97 points, or 1.12%, to 1,940.47.

It was the second straight down week for all three indexes. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 0.97%, and the Nasdaq ended down 2.2%.

The Canadian dollar slipped to US 74.95¢, down from US 75.17¢ at Thursday’s close.