Toronto stocks edged lower Friday as slumping financial and tech stocks offset gains in materials and energy shares.

The S&P/TSX composite closed down 10.08 points, or 0.07%, at 13,632.57.

Eight of the 10 TSX main groups ended lower

The resource laden materials group gained 1.62%.

Shares of Katanga Mining Ltd. retreated by 17¢, or 0.92%, closing at $18.28, after shareholders approved a merger with Nikanor PLC. The company said the combined entity has the potential to become Africa’s largest copper producer and the world’s largest cobalt producer.

Gold futures closed up US$4.10, or 0.5%, at US897. Prices topped US$900 an ounce for the first time ever in intraday trading on speculation that the Fed will further cut its key interest rates.

The TSX gold sub-group rose 2.02%, led by Barrick Gold Corp., which gained $2.26, or 4.52%, closing at $52.26.

The heavyweight energy group gained 0.53% even as the February crude contract closed down 81¢, or 0.9% at US$92.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest in three weeks. Crude dropped US$5 during the week.

Nexen Inc. shares gained 47¢, or 1.46%, after a report was released noting that hedge funds are looking for the sale or breakup of the Calgary-based international oil and gas producer.

The financials sub-group lost ground, falling 0.06%. Bank of Montreal shares lost 43¢, or 0.75%, closing at $56.97.

The technology sector was off 1.7%, after Research in Motion was hit with an analyst downgrade. The BlackBerry-maker finished down $6.10, or 6%, at $95.70.

The consumer discretionary group dropped 1.87%.

Shaw Communications Inc. stock fell 90¢, or 3.93%, after the Calgary-based television company announced it earned $112.2 million, or 26¢ a share, in the first quarter of its financial year, up from $81.1 million, or 19¢ a share, in the same period a year ago.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index climbed 19.10 points, or 0.69%, to 2,797.76.

The Canadian dollar lost more than 1¢ this morning after jobs data that revealed the economy had lost 18,700 jobs last month. The dollar closed out at US$98.07, down 1.20¢.

In New York, stocks tumbled amid concerns over further writedowns in the financial sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 246.79 points, or 1.92%, closing at 12,606.30. The S&P 500 saw more moderate losses, closing down 19.31 points, or 1.36%, to settle at 1,401.02.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 48.58 points, or 1.95%, closing at 2,439.94.

For the week, the Dow shed 1.5%, the S&P lost 0.8% and the Nasdaq declined 2.6%.