The Canadian stock market closed higher Friday at the end of a volatile week when the main index lost more than 2 percent.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 69.21 points, or 0.58 percent, to 12,065.55, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index increased 6.13 points, or 0.66 percent, to 939.07.

The Canadian stock market got a weak start Monday amid data showing economic growth in China coming in lower than expected. Canadian shares extended losses midweek as the International Fund Monetary lowered its estimation for global economic growth. Worries about slowing global demand sent commodity prices lower and dragged the commodity-based Canadian stock market sharply down. The main index on the Toronto Stock Exchange slumped 2.2 percent for the week or has gone down 3 percent since the beginning of this year.

Gains on the Canadian market Friday were largely due to the 2.3 percent rise in metals and mining sector. Gold stocks stopped sharp losses as bullion prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange were slightly up. Barrick Gold was up 1.14 percent to 18.65 Canadian dollars per share and Goldcorp was up 0.03 percent. The information technology sector increased 1 percent as shares of Canadian phone maker BlackBerry rose 2.8 percent to 14.19 Canadian dollars. The industrial sector was also supportive as shares in Canadian National Railways gained about 1.5 Canadian dollars to 57.60 Canadian dollars apiece.

The energy sector was the only decliner among all eight sectors, moving 0.4 percent down though May crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was slightly up. Suncor Energy slid 0.7 percent to 28.13 Canadian dollars per share. On the economic front, Statistics Canada said the consumer price index rose 1 percent in March compared with a year earlier, lower than the 1.1 percent reading that economists had expected. It recorded a rise of 1.2 percent with the country's CPI in February.

At closing, the Canadian dollar purchased 0.9741 U.S. dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT), compared with 0.9783 U.S. dollars on Thursday. Endi

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