U.S. stocks climbed narrowly into positive territory on Friday, as technology companies added to the week's modest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.02 points, or 0.12%, to 10607.85 Friday. The measure climbed for a third straight week, adding 1.39% since Monday's open.

The Standard & Poor's 500-share index gained 0.93, or 0.08%, to 1125.59. The S&P 500 closed up for a third consecutive week, rising 1.45% this week.

But the technology heavy Nasdaq Composite was the best performer, rising for eight straight days and outperforming both blue chips and the broader market. The Nasdaq gained 12.36, or 0.54%, to 2315.61 Friday, and climbed 3.26% over the week, as ebbing fears of a double dip recession and encouraging earnings lifted technology stocks.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion rose 23 cents, or 0.5%, to 46.72, after posting a surge in its fiscal second quarter profit and revenue, though the company added fewer new subscribers than it had expected.

Business software company Oracle jumped 2.12, or 8.4%, to 27.48, after its fiscal first quarter profit grew 20% as the company benefited from new revenue from its Sun Microsystems acquisition, as well as strong demand for software licenses.

Meanwhile, chip maker Texas Instruments climbed 74 cents, or 3%, to 25.72, after the company said it plans to buy back $7.5 billion worth of its shares and would raise its quarterly dividend by 8%. While the large cap indexes have surged in September, much of that gain came early in the month. The latest week's gains were slim, as investors continued to buy safe haven assets including Treasurys and gold.

European market

European stock markets ended lower Friday on renewed fears about Ireland's economy, with bank stocks coming under pressure, while retailers and technology firms rebounded. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.2% to end at 262.86, having earlier risen as much as 1.1%.

The index ended the week down 0.7%. The French CAC 40 index fell 0.4% to 3,722.02, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped 0.6% to 5,508.45.

In Germany, the DAX 30 index dropped 0.6% to 6,209.76. Ireland's ISEQ benchmark posted a much more dramatic decline, falling 2.7%.

The cost of insuring Irish debt soared to a record high, with analysts at Barclays Capital warning the government may need to seek outside help in the event of unexpected financial-sector losses. The spread on 5 year Irish credit default swaps jumped to 433 basis points from 387 basis points Thursday.

Shares in Allied Irish Banks tumbled 11%, and Bank of Ireland dropped 7%. The declines also hit other European banks, with Barclays sliding 3.2% in London and Societe Generale down 2.9% in Paris.

Asian market

Asian stock markets ended mostly higher Friday, with gold miners leading gains as a weaker U.S. dollar boosted the precious metal to a record high.

Japans' Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.2%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.1%, while Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.7%. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3%.

Gold miners rallied across the region as the commodity price for the yellow metal rose above a record high of $1,277.85 per troy ounce set in New York Thursday. The spike lifted shares of Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. 2.8% in Hong Kong, while Zhongjin Gold Co. rose 3.1% in Shanghai.

In Tokyo, exporters boosted the market as the U.S. dollar remained above the Y85.00 level after Japan's market intervention earlier this week. Most companies were in positive territory but trading volumes were modest ahead of Japanese public holidays Monday and Thursday. Sony Corp. rose 1.4%, Nikon Corp. added 4% and Honda Motor added 1.9%.

Base metals

Base metals closed mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange Friday, but pared gains made earlier in the day as the euro eased against the U.S. dollar.

LME three month copper closed at $7,720 a metric ton, up 0.3% on the day, after hitting an intraday high of $7,810/ton its highest level in almost five months. Inventories of copper stored in LME-monitored warehouses fell 2,950 tons, leaving them at 10 month low of 384,200 tons.

Crude oil futures prices sank for a fourth straight day Friday on continued concerns over near term oversupply as a major crude oil pipeline from Canada resumed operations.

Enbridge Energy Partners said its crude oil pipeline that can carry 670,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Midwest returned to normal operations Friday after a week long shutdown to repair a leak.

The line the has capacity to handle one third of U.S. imports of crude from Canada, the U.S. biggest foreign supplier.

Light, sweet crude oil for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down 91 cents, or 1.2%, at $73.66 a barrel. That is the lowest settlement price since Aug. 31. Crude prices shed 3.6% from a week earlier in the biggest decline since the week ended Aug. 13.

On the ICE, North Sea Brent crude for November settled down 27 cents at $78.21 a barrel the lowest price in a week. Gold futures extended their record highs amid fresh worries about the European banking system, global currencies and talk of further easing of monetary policy to give a jump start to the sluggish U.S. economic recovery.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, rose $3.70, or 0.3%, to settle at a record $1,277.50 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In electronic trading overnight, it hit $1,284.40, the highest ever intraday peak for a most-active contract.