Gold stocks kept Bay Street in the black on Thursday, while Wall Street suffered as a major drug company was forced to take one of its leading products off the shelves.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.18 points or 0.40% at 8668.29, while the mining-heavy TSX Venture exchange jumped 30.89 points or 1.93% to 1629.38.

In New York, stocks were mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 55.97 points 0.55% to 10080.27, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished essentially flat, gaining 2.90 points or 0.15% at 1896.94. The S&P 500 fell less than a point, 0.22 or 0.02%, to 1114.58.

The Canadian dollar continued its steady climb Thursday, pushing past US79 cents with little resistance. The loonie was trading at US79.26 cents in late-day trading up 0.51¢ from Wednesday’s close. The Canadian dollar hasn’t been that high against the U.S. dollar since May 1993. The strength came despite weaker-than-expected July GDP figures released in the morning. Statistics Canada said gross domestic product edged up 0.1% in July, missing economists’ expectations of 0.3%.

In Toronto, the TSX strength came from a 2.62% jump in gold shares as the price of bullion climbed to its highest levels since mid-April. The December contract for gold closed up US$5.70 an ounce at US$420.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures have not been that high since April 12 when they stood at US$424.20.

Among individual gold stocks, Barrick Gold was up 47¢ or 1.80% at $26.54, while Placer Dome rose 48¢ or 1.95% to $25.06. Wheaton River Minerals was up 14¢ or 3.66% at $3.97 on volume of more than 17.5 million shares a day after surviving a hostile takeover battle.

Energy shares also finished ahead, up 0.26% after dipping into the red late in the session. Crude for November delivery climbed as high as US$50.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which was still below the record of US$50.47 from Tuesday. The sub-index was up despite losses in Petro-Canada and Suncor Energy, which fell 0.23% and 1.54% respectively.

Financial stocks gained 0.66% with Bank of Montreal up 70¢ or 1.28% to $55.30.

In other news, shares of Nortel Networks fell 20¢ or 4.46% to $4.28 after the company gave details of a previously announced job-cut program, saying it is cutting 950 jobs in Canada and 1,400 in the United States among a total of 3,250 to be eliminated by next June. The company had said in August it would cut about 3,500 jobs.

In New York, Merck & Co. said it is halting worldwide sales of its blockbuster arthritis drug Vioxx, once viewed as possibly being able to prevent some cancers, because new data from a clinical trial found an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The pharmaceutical giant, which represents 3.27% of the Dow, was down $12.09 or 26.82% to US$32.98 in late trading on volume of more than 138.5 million shares. Rival Pfizer Inc. was up 27¢ or 0.89% to US$30.45.

Bad economic news also weighed on stocks as the Labor Department reported the highest increase in weekly first-time jobless claims in seven months, and the U.S. Commerce Department reported consumer spending was flat for the month of August.