Easing oil prices helped boost Wall Street, while financial shares managed to keep Bay Street out of the red on Tuesday.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX closed virtually unchanged — off just 0.93 points or 0.01% at 8316.4, with more than 266.8 million shares trading hands. The TSX Venture Exchange was off 8.09 points or 0.53% at 1507.29.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up just 25.58 points or 0.25% to 10098.63. Trading was light. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.51 of a point or 0.05% at 1096.19, while the Nasdaq composite index was off 1.81 points or 0.10% to 1836.89.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.08 of a cent late in the day to US76.53¢.

Oil prices tumbled for a third consecutive day Tuesday, briefly falling below US$45 a barrel. Light crude for October delivery fell as low as US$44.75 before settling at US$45.21, a decline of 84¢ on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude futures closed at US$48.70 on Thursday — the highest Nymex settlement on record. When adjusted for inflation, oil is more than US$11 cheaper than it was leading up to the first Gulf War.

In Toronto, energy and gold shares battled financial stocks as the TSX hovered around the unchanged mark for much of the session despite a short-lived end-of-day jump.

A strong earnings report from the Bank of Montreal was the catalyst as financial stocks closed up 1.16%. BMO reported third-quarter earnings jumped 30% to $654 million and said it was increasing its dividends and upping its full-year outlook. BMO shares jumped 2.15%, pulling all the big banks and many other financial institutions with it.

The Bank of Montreal was the first of Canada’s big banks to report earnings this quarter.

The TSX’s gold sub-sector was down 2.25% while energy shares were off 0.67%. Techs were down as well, off 1.18%.

Air Canada was the TSX’s most active stock. It fell 75% to just 5¢ on news it would be delisted from the exchange as of Wednesday. More than 70.1 million shares traded hands.

Bombardier, the TSX’s second most-active, closed up 6.16% of volume of more than 12.7 million shares.

On U.S. markets, tech stocks suffered following a brokerage downgrade of Cisco Systems Inc. An increase in stock options granted by Cisco caused UBS to lower its price target for the network equipment maker by $1 per share. Cisco slid 1.09%. Tech shares have been closely watched as they begin more thorough accounting of their stock options, a key part of many companies’ compensation for employees.

Part of the Dow’s gains came from Caterpillar Inc., which rose $1.10 to US$73.15 in late trading after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “in-line/neutral,” citing strong profit performance and an attractive share price.

Profits at food producer H.J. Heinz Co. slipped 9% from a year ago, though the company’s US55¢ per share profit matched analysts’ estimates. Heinz rose $1.06 to US$37.66.