Toronto stocks appeared to be directionless Friday, as investors in Canada seemed to pay more heed to news of a record high trade deficit in the U.S. than did American investors. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 29.55 to 8,468.01 today, while American markets rose.

Overall, seven of the 10 TSX sub-indexes dropped as investors sought refuge in gold and diversified metal and mining issues. Gold issues rose 1.08%, while metals surged 2.19%.

It was also a good day for tech stocks. That sector edged up 0.21% as Nortel Networks continued to benefit from comments from Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers that his company may consider an alliance with Canada’s biggest high tech company. Nortel shares added another 8¢ today after climbing 7.3% Thursday.

The energy sector was the biggest loser, despite reports that crude oil exports from southern Iraq are expected to be back to normal by the end of next week. EnCana shed 71¢ to $57.94.

It was a more positive story for small-cap stocks as the junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 21.28 points to 1,561.65.

American markets climbed despite a report from the U.S. Commerce Department the trade deficit swelled to an all-time high of U.S.$144.9 billion in the first quarter of this year. The figure was almost $5 billion more than economists expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 38.89 points at 10,416.41. The S&P 500 Index rose 2.95 points to 1,135.00. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite Index closed up 3.06 points at 1,986.73.

For the week, the Dow edged up 0.06%, while the S&P 500 slid about 0.13% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.66%.