Toronto markets, fuelled by rising oil prices and big gains by airline stocks, closed up Friday, ending two days of triple-digit declines. But U.S. markets lost ground, as investors worried that a near-record trade deficit would trigger inflation.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 15.87 points or 0.16% to 9691.44 for a loss on the week of 2.4%. The TSX Venture Exchange added 33.5 points or 1.71% at 1988.19.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 77.15 points or 0.71% at 10774.36, sliding 1.5% on the week. The Nasdaq gave up 18.12 points or 0.88% to 2041.60 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 9.17 points or 0.76% to1200.08.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.12 of a cent to US82.93¢ on the news of disappointing employment and trade reports. The runup in the currency continued to eat away at the country’s trade surplus in January, narrowing to $4 billion from $5.2 billion in December. The Canadian economy added 27,000 more jobs last month, but more people decided to look for work, leaving the overall rate unchanged at 7%.

In Toronto, industrial stocks advanced 0.72% thanks largely to a surge by WestJet Airlines, whose shares were up almost 40% to $15.60. Shares in Air Canada’s holding company, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., also soared, gaining 14.76% to $37. The reason was the sudden announcement by low-cost competitor Jetsgo that it had ceasing operations shortly after midnight Friday. WestJet and ACE were the TSX’s second and third most-active stocks on Friday.

Energy stocks, meanwhile, were also up, adding 1.73% as the price of oil resumed its climb after a two-day hiatus. Oil futures spiked higher as the dollar slipped through the morning, climbing back above US$54 per barrel. A barrel of light crude was quoted at US$54.43, up 89¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In New York, a better-than-expected quarterly update from Intel Corp. failed to distract investors preoccupied by the near-record trade deficit and the threat of inflation.

Intel, a Dow Jones industrial, said late Thursday sales for the current quarter would be at the higher end of previous forecasts, giving Wall Street hope that the technology sector’s troubles, which have included sluggish sales, may soon be resolved.

However, the Intel news failed to bolster stocks after the Commerce Department’s report on the U.S. trade gap. The deficit rose to US$58.3 billion in January, the second highest level after November’s reading. While the nation’s exports rose to record highs, imports rose even faster, leading investors to fear a loss of confidence in the dollar overseas.