Toronto stocks end winning week with flat finish

Toronto stocks finished flat on Friday as sagging gold issues wiped out gains by the financial and technology sectors. The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index fell 6.67 points, or 0.06 percent, to 11,011.83. For the week, the key index rose 0.98 percent.
The gold index fell 1.7 percent and dragged the materials group down 0.7 percent as quarter-end profit-taking and weaker oil prices and took the steam out of the recent rally.
Glamis Gold shares dropped 38 Canadian cents, or 1.5 percent, to C$25.50, while Kinross Gold shares fell 14 Canadian cents, or 1.5 percent, to C$8.93.
"It's a good dance and it's two steps forward and one step back, but we are still in an uptrend in gold," said Peter Chandler, senior vice-president at Canaccord Capital Corp.
"All things considered, the market is incredibly resilient but it's definitely a market of mixed performance." The information technology sector rose 0.4 percent, while the influential financial index chipped in with a gain of 0.23 percent.
Five of the TSX's 10 main subindexes ended higher.
But the energy group slid 0.2 percent, it's second straight loss, as US crude oil prices fell to $66.24, pulled lower by slumping gasoline prices as refiners cranked out motor fuel at the expense of heating oil and high prices eroded demand.
Rothmans Inc shares dropped a day after the Supreme Court of Canada cleared the way for provinces to sue the tobacco industry for the health costs of smoking.
Shares of Rothmans dropped as much as 11 percent earlier in the session before recovering slightly to C$21.62, for a drop of C$1.38 or 6 percent.
Market momentum was comfortably positive as 796 issues advanced and 688 declined on a heavy volume of 297 million shares valued at C$4.8 billion.
The blue chip S&P/TSX 60 index ended 0.09 points, or 0.01 percent, higher at 620.04.
US markets managed to finish higher as the dip in crude prices helped shares of companies that are big users of fuel.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.92 points, or 0.15 percent, to 10,568.70, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.47 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,151.69.