An uptick in oil and gold prices and a bid for a greater stake in the world’s largest automaker helped spark markets in Canada and the U.S. to triple-digit gains Wednesday.

At close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 102.32 points or 1.09% at 9473.29 while the TSX Venture Exchange added 17.21 points or 1.03% to 1683.27.

On Wall Street, the blue-chip Dow industrials jumped 127.69 points or 1.24% higher at 10384.64. The Nasdaq composite added 29.16 points or 1.51% to 1962.23 and the S&P 500 index gained 14.48 points or 1.25% to 1175.65.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.38 of a cent to US80.25 late in the session.

In Toronto, only two of the TSX sub-groups (real estate and consumer staples) were down. Gold shares, up 2.45%, and energy stocks, up 1.25% led the charge on Bay Street.

Spot gold prices jumped $2.30 to US$429.00 on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the U.S. dollar fell against other major currencies in European trading. Oil prices, meanwhile rebounded from earlier lows, rising 63¢ to settle at US$50.13 per barrel on the NYMEX after a weekly government report showed rising supplies of crude oil and gasoline.

Among the bigger advancers on the TSX was Goldcorp Inc., which added 34¢ or 2.20% to $17.14 and Talisman Energy Inc., which gained 84¢ or 2.23% to $38.49.

In New York, U.S. investors cheered some good news — decent earnings, a handful of mergers and billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s bid to substantially add to his stake in General Motors Corp.

Buying was brisk a day after the Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates by a quarter point to 3%, and the market seemed to be shrugging off some of the worries that have dogged stocks in recent weeks. Part of what calmed investors’ anxiety was the Fed’s assertion that longer-term inflation expectations remain “well contained,” analysts said. The market was also anticipating a reshaping of the yield curve on news that the government was considering bringing back the 30-year bond.

For investors worried about the outlook for stocks, however, Kerkorian’s commitment to troubled auto maker GM carried a powerful message.

GM soared $5.03 or 18.11% to $32.80 after Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. offered to pay about $870 million for a nearly 5% stake in the automaker, a deal that would boost the billionaire’s stake in GM to nearly 9%. Kerkorian is seeking to purchase 28 million shares at $31 apiece.