Sliding gold and energy stocks led the way to a sharp loss on the Toronto stock market Friday, but the main index racked up gains for the week as investors grew more confident about an economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 82.28 points to 11,445.95, gaining 192.72 points, or 1.71 per cent, this week, led by rising energy and financial stocks.
A pickup in U.S. dollar strength sent the Canadian dollar down 0.26 of a cent to 93.48 cents (U.S.).
The gold sector led decliners, down 1.67 per cent as the December bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange drifted $3.20 lower to $1,010.30 an ounce.
The energy sector was off 1.45 per cent as the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slid 43 cents to $72.04 a barrel.
Crude was up almost $3 on the week, on hopes that the United States, the biggest oil consumer, is on the road to recovery. Still, the recession has sapped U.S. fuel consumption, and U.S. oil stockpiles are 14 per cent larger than last year.
The TSX Venture Exchange was up 9.06 points to 1,281.8.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported wholesale sales increased 2.8 per cent in July, mainly as a result of higher sales in the auto sector.
"The tone of these data is undeniably positive and though there may be some transitory element to the strength in the motor vehicles component, it will still undoubtedly add to July GDP," said Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist at TD Securities.
"We estimate that GDP for July could be in the range of 0.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent."
New York indexes added to a series of sharp gains, as the Dow Jones industrials climbed 36.28 points to 9,820.2 for a gain of 214.79 points, or 2.23 per cent this past week.
The Nasdaq composite index was up 6.11 points to 2,132.86 while the S&P 500 index gained 2.81 points to 1,068.34.
Economic confidence has risen this week after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession is for intents and purposes over, while data showed that industrial production rose sharply in August and housing starts are heading higher.
Marc Harris, co-head of global research for RBC Capital Markets in New York, said the strength of the rally has surprised many investors because some of the stocks posting the biggest advances are of lower-quality companies with weak balance sheets that investors only months ago feared might go out of business.
"Even turkeys are going to fly in a hurricane," Mr. Harris said. "Those lower-quality companies are leading the charge here."