The Toronto stock market closed higher Thursday despite some big losses in telecom stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 31.74 points at 13,663.89.

The telecom sector was by far the biggest decliner, down 3.5%, with Rogers Communications falling $3.79, or 8.33%, to $41.71.

Ottawa announced Wednesday that a three-week auction of wireless spectrum is scheduled to start next May. The auction will shut out Canada’s three national cellphone companies from a portion of the amount that’s up for bidding.

Telus shares dropped $2.29 to $46.62.

The financial sector gained 0.46% as TD Bank reported a quarterly profit of $1.09 billion, up 44% from a year-ago. TD shares moved up $1.42 to $71.80.

National Bank shares fell 57¢ to $53.68 after the bank said a big writedown connected to asset-backed commercial paper helped push it to a $175-million loss.

The Montreal Exchange and TSX Group confirmed they are in discussions about a possible merger, but said there’s no certainty a deal will be reached.

Montreal Exchange shares surged $6.35 or almost 22%, to $35.55, while TSX shares were ahead $2.90 to $53.

The energy sector moved up 0.7%. The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 39¢ to US$91.01 a barrel, with Canadian Natural Resources up 73¢ to $67.03.

Oil prices had earlier spiked as high as US$95.17 a barrel following reports of fire along the Enbridge Energy Partners LP Lakehead pipeline in northern Minnesota which carries oil from Saskatchewan to the Chicago area.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite inched 0.06 of a point lower to 2,731.95.

The Canadian dollar fell on the latest sign of weakness in the economy, down 1.13¢ to US100.28¢ after Statistics Canada reported that the current account surplus slumped by $5.3 billion in the third quarter to $1 billion.

In New York, stocks rose slightly as investors stayed on the sidelines following substantial gains racked up in the last two sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average moved up 22.28 points to 13,311.73. The Nasdaq composite index edged up 5.22 points to 2,668.13, while the S&P 500 index added 0.7 of a point to 1,469.72.