North American markets closed in the black Wednesday, with gold and energy stocks leading Bay Street while an expected interest rate hike appeared to hold back U.S. markets.

At close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX index was up 33.81 points or 0.36% to 9303.94. The TSX Venture Exchange gained 12.21 or 0.68% to 1817.30. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 44.85 points or 0.43% to 10596.79. The Nasdaq added 6.36 points or 0.31% to 2075.06. The S&P 500 index was up 3.78 points or 0.32% to 1193.19.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.11 of a cent at US80.80¢ in late trading.

In Toronto, gold stocks provided a lift, adding 1.75% as a group, as bullion rose 60¢ to US$421.10 an ounce in New York. The Toronto energy sector jumped 0.81% as the price of light, sweet crude in New York increased 16¢ to US$47.28 a barrel.

Overall, only three of the 13 TSX sub groups were down.

The heavyweight financials added 0.23%. But Canaccord Capital Corp. was down, losing 42¢ to $10.53, despite reporting that quarterly profit rose to $16.7 million from $11.3 million a year-ago. Also down was AGF Management Ltd., whose shares slipped 40¢ to $16.90 despite a 75% jump in net income in fiscal 2004; net redemptions at the fund firm were up, too, however, jumping 25% for the year. Bank of Nova Scotia lost 11¢ to $39.04. The bank is the object of an RCMP raid relating to an investigation of Royal group technologies Ltd.

In New York, anticipation over the Federal Reserve’s statement, and the expected 0.25 percentage point rise in short-term interest rates, overshadowed upbeat results from Google Inc. and Boeing Co. earlier in the session, effectively corking gains for stocks. Some buyers were still holding back ahead of President Bush’s state of the union address, set for Wednesday evening. Still, analysts said Wall Street’s overall mood seemed to be turning more positive after the unusually poor showing for stocks in January.

Google surged 7.3% or $14.06 to $205.96, after reporting fourth-quarter profits that were seven times greater than the previous year. The owner of the world’s most popular search engine would have earned 92¢ per share, excluding charges, far greater than the 77¢ Wall Street had expected.

Dow component Boeing was up $1.21 at US$52.25 after the aerospace giant’s fourth-quarter profits plunged 84 percent on charges related to a lost Pentagon contract and the production shut down of its 717 jet. The results still exceeded Wall Street’s expectations Wednesday as earnings and sales rose at its defense unit, now by far its biggest business.