Canadian stocks slip, but notch weekly gain

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) � Energy stocks traded in Toronto gained ground Friday as crude-oil futures jumped above $109 a barrel, but the moves couldn�t prevent the equity market�s benchmark from ending slightly lower.

Click to Play U.S. week ahead: data deluge

U.S. investors will start the week reacting to the G-20 meeting and then move on to a heavy slate of data releases, including, ISM, Q4 GDP, and home sales. Also Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies, and Priceline.com reports earnings. Laura Mandaro reports.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index CA:GSPTSE �turned lower, closing down 6 points at 12,725.77, with consumer staples and materials stocks closing in the red. The loss was the index�s first in four sessions.

But the index finished the week up 2.2%.

The S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index XX:TTEN �picked up 0.2% on Friday, counting Suncor Energy Inc. CA:SU �and Husky Energy Inc. CA:HSE �among the companies whose shares rose alongside a 1.8% jump in April crude �to $109.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude has climbed to a nine-month high on continued worries that Iran may stop oil exports to some European nations after the European Union imposed an oil embargo on Iran last month.

An International Monetary Fund official said Thursday that a halt of Iranian oil exports to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries could produce a rise in prices between 20% and 30%. Read more about Friday's surge in crude-oil futures.

Also higher were March gasoline �and heating oil futures, but March natural gas futures �declined nearly 3%.

Elsewhere in the energy group, Nexen Inc. CA:NXY � shares climbed 1.5% to C$21.18 after the company said first oil has been produced from the Usan field offshore West Africa. Nexen, which has a 20% working interest in Usan, expects the project �to deliver significant cash flow and long-term value� to the company.

Also moving higher on the benchmark were shares of Magna International Inc. CA:MG �, up 5.4% to C$47.36 as the auto-parts manufacturer lifted its dividend by 10% following growth in fourth-quarter results. Magna also hiked its sales forecast for the year.

Magna said its new dividend of 27.5 cents a share is payable on March 23 to shareholders as of March 12.

Meanwhile, shares of Iamgold Corp. CA:IMG �slumped 9.1% to C$15.90 after the gold miner�s fourth-quarter results came in lower than anticipated, and as its gold reserves declined by 5%.

In the futures market, investors booked gains in gold and silver. Gold for April delivery �fell 0.6% to $1,776.40 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold rose 2.9% for the week, with the rise stemming from a weaker U.S. dollar and inflation worries set off by higher oil futures and retail gas prices.

March silver �shed 0.6% to $35.34 an ounce, but logged a weekly gain of 6.4%.

Among mining stocks that lost ground in Toronto trading, Kinross Gold Corp. CA:K �declined 2.1% and Yamana Gold Inc. CA:YRI �fell 1%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �lost nearly 2 points to 12,982.95. The S&P 500 Index SPX �rose 2 points to 1,365.74 and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �gained 7 points, 0.2%, to 2,963.75.

The indexes finished higher for the week. Read about U.S. stocks in Market Snapshot.