NEW YORK (CNNfn) - After a rollercoaster week, Western Hemisphere stock markets ended Friday in disarray, with Mexican stocks following Wall Street's last-minute climb while Toronto and Brazil followed a generally downward trend.
Toronto stocks tried to rebound with the Dow in late trading, but the market failed to regain the optimism lost during Thursday's steep decline.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's key 300 composite index sank 56.80 points, 0.79 percent, to 7,170.58. Volume was 78 million shares.
New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average also attempted a comeback, rising 4.38 points to 8,937.36 after falling 195.93 points or 2.15 percent to 8,932.98 on Thursday.
"The market's trying to rebound after yesterday's selloff here," said David Jarvis, a liability trader at Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion in Toronto. "We're seeing a bit of a bounce in commodity prices as people are putting the Asian crisis behind them."
Although all 14 of the TSE 300's subindexes opened higher, only the metals and minerals index retained its strength by the close, ending the day up 0.65 percent.
In Brazil, the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) said it would extend its trading session by a half hour to make up some of the time lost earlier in the session amid technical problems.
The Bovespa ended down 65 points, 0.61 percent, at 10,575.
Mexican share prices ended marginally higher, up 10.60 points, 0.24 percent, at 4,495.10 following overnight gains in Asia and a last-minute advance on Wall Street.
"We are tied to the Dow again today. Where it goes, we will go," one dealer said.
Venezuelan banks and financial markets were closed for the public observance of national hero Simon Bolivar's birthday. They will reopen on Monday. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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