North American markets closed mixed on Tuesday. The S&P/TSX composite index slid 1.66 points to 7,561.21.

Strength in gold stocks couldn’t offset broader market weakness. The gold index rose 1.4% as December gold futures surged $4.50 to US$377.80 an ounce, largely because of the U.S. dollar weakness.

Kinross Gold rose 37¢ to $10.07; Bema Gold climbed 23¢ to $3.50.

Placer Dome was a notable loser among the golds (down 2¢ to $17.98); it announced it would take on US$500 million in new debt to finance a recent mine acquisition and fund the expansion of another mine.

Telecoms stocks fell 1.26%, while the information technology group fell 0.73%.

In the telecoms group, Telus was down 84¢ to $23.56.

Among tech issues, Nortel Networks lost 1¢ to $6.01. Celestica fell 45¢ to $23.26 while ATI Technologies dropped 34¢ to $20.01.

Notable gainers included Sierra Wireless, up $1.66 to $22.15, and ATS Automation, up $1.10 to $15.70.

Big decliners included Angiotech Pharma, down $2.22 to $60. The pharmaceutical company said underwriters had exercised their option to buy an additional 750,000 Angiotech shares at $59.01.

Toronto volume was 272.8 million shares. Momentum was positive as 652 issues advanced and 538 declined.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 10.44 points to 1,393.25.

In business news, the former chairman CanWest Global Communications, Izzy Asper, died today in Winnepge. He was 71.

In New York, the market gauges closed higher after a see-saw session. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 59.63 points to close at 9,654.61. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 14.39 points to 1,907.85. The broader S&P 500 gained 4.90 points to 1,039.25.

The U.S. dollar fell against many currencies in the morning, but rebounded somewhat as the day wore on. The Canadian dollar gained 0.48¢ to close at US75.10¢, its highest close since Nov. 12, 1996.