Another spike in oil prices pushed U.S. markets lower Thursday, while gold stocks gave Canadian markets a late-day boost into positive territory.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 5.56 points or 0.06% at 8591.65, while the junior TSX Venture Exchange advanced 5.83 points or 0.38% at 1544.40. In New York, the Dow industrial average fell 70.28 points or 0.70% at 10038.90. The Nasdaq was ahead slightly, up 0.72 of a point or 0.04% at 1888.43 and the S&P 500 index dropped 5.20 points or 0.47% to 1108.36.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.25 of a cent at US78.14¢ in late trading.

The price of crude oil for November delivery in New York was up 35¢ to US$48.70 — the record closing high from Aug. 19. Oil reached a record intra-day high of US$49.20 on Aug. 20. The price of oil headed higher despite news the Bush administration is set to allow several U.S. refiners to borrow crude oil from the U.S. emergency stockpile to help offset supply disruptions along the Gulf Coast from hurricane Ivan.

Despite the jump, the TSX’s energy group was lower Thursday — down 0.56% — probably on news that Deutsche Bank downgraded the major integrated oil sector to “neutral” from “overweight.” Among the bigger drops were two of Canada’s major integrateds: Petro Canada, which slipped $1.15 to $64.55; and Shell Canada, down $1.99 to $67.01.

Gold shares, however, gained 1.32%, helping the TSX to climb into the black after spending most of the day in the red. Gold for December delivery rose $3.60 to close at US$412.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its richest closing price since Aug. 23.

Financials, technology and health case issues were also up.

Manitoba Telecom was the TSX’s most-active stock, gaining 65¢ to $43.40 on volume of more than 8.6 million shares after BCE Inc. said it expects $578 million from selling most of its stake in MT. BCE was up 1¢ to $28.31 in late trading.

U.S. stocks were also affected by two less-than-bullish economic reports. The first was a lower reading of the U.S. Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators, the third straight monthly decline. That was seen as a that economic growth has been slowing and would likely taper off through the end of the year. In another report, the U.S. Labour Department said the number of new people signing up for jobless benefits rose last week. New applications for unemployment insurance went up by a seasonally adjusted 14,000, to 350,000 – higher than the 338,000 analysts had expected.

In new York, the jump in crude prices as well as the Deutsche Bank report took a toll U.S. energy companies, in particular ExxonMobil . The integrated oil giant lost of 2.33%.

By sector, oil services, integrated oil, natural gas, airlines and banks were the biggest losers. Gold, Internet and hardware were among the gainers.