Oil prices fell Thursday, taking Toronto markets with them, but helping New York finish solidly in the black.

At close, the Toronto S&P/TSX composite index was down 47.66 points or 0.49% to 9625.35, while the TSX Venture Exchange slid 9.82 points or 0.53% at 1846.25. In New York, the Dow industrial average advanced 60.30 points or 0.58% at 10546.32. The Nasdaq gained 19.65 points or 0.98% at 2018.79 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 7.07 points or 0.60% to 1191.14.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.10 of a cent to US81.81¢.

In Toronto, energy stocks fell 1.33% as a whole as oil prices fell $1.74 lower at US$54.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline futures dropped nearly 11¢ before recovering somewhat to US$1.568 a gallon, a decline of 9.12¢.

Among the bigger energy losers were Encana Corp, whose stock lost fell $1.90 to $87.25; Husky Oil Ltd. down 69¢ to $37.01 and Suncor Energy Inc., which fell 95¢ t0 $87.50.

Financial stocks also pulled down the TSX composite, falling 1.02% as a whole, with the big banks all taking hits.

Gold shares, up 0.5%, and tech stocks, up 1.53%, helped mitigate the overall loss.

In New York, stocks held on to their gains from the morning, boosted by the slide in crude, but also helped by the prospect of a good earnings season.

The earnings season got off to a strong start when Alcoa Inc. reported better-than-expected profits after the market closed Wednesday; its shares surged $1.49 to US$31.38.

Major U.S. retailers reported mixed sales for March as unusually cold weather and soaring gasoline prices offset the benefits of an early Easter holiday.

The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., lost 60 cents to $48.90 after lowering its earnings forecast for the quarter due to disappointing sales growth in March; it also projected lower sales growth for April.