Toronto stocks closed higher on Wednesday, lifted by gold and banking issues. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 39.47 points at 6,742.38.

Toronto stocks outperformed markets south of the border, which ended lower following soft U.S. retail sales figures and a tepid tech forecast.

Gold stocks led the charge on Wednesday, gaining 2.1%. The precious metal hit a to a two-month high of US$354.80 an ounce in New York.

Barrick Gold closed up 61¢ at $23.87 and Kinross Gold gained 37¢ to $8.71.

The heavily weighted financial services index rose 0.8%. Royal Bank climbed 69¢ to $59.99. And Power Financial Corp. shares climbed 50¢ to $42.33 after it increased its dividend while reporting a 6.8% rise in first-quarter earnings to $253 million despite a slight slip in revenue.

CIBC jumped $1.75, or 3.7%, to $49.10 after the court-appointed monitor for Air Canada recommended a sweetened offer from the bank linking its Aerogold credit card to the airline’s Aeroplan loyalty points program.

Air Canada stock fell 8¢ to $1.82 on heavy volume of 5.2 million shares, after the airline reported a bigger first-quarter operating loss because of the continuing slump in the travel industry.

In other earnings news, Canadian Tire gained 17¢ to $34.17 after reporting solid first-quarter earnings of $32 million with sales up 13%.

Rona edged 8¢ lower to $17.50 after reporting first-quarter profit rose by half to $5.8 million as sales increased 5.3%.

Toronto volume was 228.1 million shares, worth $2.72 billion. There were 583 advances, 521 declines, with 228 issues unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 2.39 at 1,070.79.

In New York, stocks slipped following the release a tepid April retail sales report. Figures released before markets opened on Wednesday showed U.S. retail sales posted their biggest drop since September 2001, falling 0.1% in April. Economists had forecast a rise of 0.4%.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 31.43 points, at 8,647.82, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.77 points to close at 1,534.91. The S&P500 eased 3.02 points to 939.28.

The Canadian dollar hit a 5-1/2 year high against the U.S. greenback. The Canadian loonie finished at US72.78¢, up from US72.08¢ at Tuesday’s North American session close.