(RTTNews) - Toronto stocks remained slightly higher on Friday but have backed off the highs of the session. Gold stocks have led the gainers as the precious metal extended a record closing high.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 19.63 points points or 0.17% to move at 11,378.50. The market lost 0.7% yesterday.

Gold stocks have added 2.1% and materials have climbed 1.1% as gold finished at $1,116.60 per ounce. Iamgold (IMG.TO) has gained 5.4%, New Gold (NGD.TO) is up 5.4% and Seagold (SEA.TO) is up 2.5%.

Avnel Gold Mining (AVK.TO) has plummeted 11.75% after the company said its third-quarter net loss widened to C$1.42 million or C$0.018 per share from C$455,000 or C$0.007 per share in the prior year period.

In corporate news, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) has gained 0.9% after the company said its board has approved C$5.5 billion capital spending plans for the year 2010.

Enterra Energy Trust (ENT_U.TO) has lost 3.2% after the company reported third-quarter net loss of C$9.46 million or C$0.15 per unit, compared to net income of C$14.92 million or C$0.23 per unit last year.

Stella-Jones (SJ.TO) reported third-quarter net earnings grew to C$8.32 million or C$0.65 per share from C$6.85 million or C$0.54 per share in the previous year. The stock is down 1.2%.

Uranium One (UUU.TO) has added 1.2% after the company reported a third-quarter net loss of US$11.9 million or US$0.03 per share compared to a loss of US$2.01 billion or US$4.30 per share last year.

Vector Aerospace (RNO.TO) has added 1.3% after the company announced that its third-quarter net earnings were C$7.8 million or C$0.20 per share, compared to C$6.5 million or C$0.17 per share for the same period last year.

Warnex (WNX.TO) has dropped 19.4% after the company said its third-quarter net loss was C$0.78 million or C$0.01 per share compared with a profit of C$0.51 million or C$0.01 per share in the prior year period.

BioSyntech (BSY.TO) posted second-quarter net loss of C$3.6 million or C$0.03 per share compared with a loss of C$3.0 million or C$0.03 per share in the prior year period.

Mega Brands (MB.TO) soared 64% after the company said its third-quarter net earnings was US$72.0 million or US$1.22 per share compared with a net loss of US$122.1 million or US$3.34 per share in the prior year period.

On the economic front, new motor vehicle sales increased 1.2% to 128,415 units in September following a slight decrease in August, according to Statistics Canada.

Meanwhile, the Canadian trade deficit narrowed to C$927 million in September.

Across the border, the Reuters and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment report showed that the consumer sentiment index fell to a reading of 66.0 in November from the final October reading of 70.6. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to edge up to a reading of 71.0.

Earlier, the Commerce Department reported the trade deficit widened to $36.5 billion in September from a revised $30.8 billion in August. Economists had been expecting the deficit to widen to $31.8 billion from the $30.7 billion originally reported for the previous month.

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Posted in Categories: Canada, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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