"Coming into month-end people tend to not do much and they do even less in front of a long weekend," said Rick Hutcheon, chief operating officer at RKH Investments, referring to U.S. markets being closed on Monday for Memorial Day.

"We're through earnings season, OPEC has done its thing, Trump hasn't done anything silly this week, the economy is not doing anything," he said.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> ended up 6.20 points, or 0.04 percent, at 15,416.93. It lost 0.3 percent in a holiday-shortened week.

Decliners slightly outnumbered advancers, with overall trade volume at its lowest in months.

Bombardier Inc (>> Bombardier, Inc.) gained 3.2 percent to C$2.25 after the planemaker said it had delivered its first CS300 aircraft to customer Swiss International Air Lines AG.

Gold miners were among the strongest gainers, as political uncertainty led investors to shun riskier assets in favor of the precious metal, pushing it to its highest in nearly four weeks. [O/R]

Agnico Eagle Mining (>> Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd) gained 1.7 percent to C$66.13 and Goldcorp (>> Goldcorp Inc.) was up 1.2 percent at C$18.47.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.5 percent.

Pipeline companies ranked among the heaviest weights, with Enbridge Inc (>> Enbridge Inc) off 0.9 percent at C$52.48 and TransCanada Corp (>> TransCanada Corporation) down 0.8 percent at C$63.28.

Canadian National Railway Co (>> Canadian National Railway Company) fell 0.7 percent to C$103.70 and rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (>> Canadian Pacific Railway Limited) lost 0.5 percent to C$213.74.

Several of the country's biggest banks gained following their earnings reports earlier in the week, with Toronto-Dominion Bank (>> Toronto-Dominion Bank) up 0.4 percent at C$64.25.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Dan Grebler and Bill Trott)

By Alastair Sharp