Lower oil prices and worries about the economy of China kept North American markets in check Thursday morning.

At midday, the S&P/TSX had recovered somewhat from an opening-bell loss of more than 30 points to a decline of 8.32 points or 0.09% to 8782.68. The TSX Venture exchange was down 15.54 or 0.95% to 1616.55. The Dow Jones industrial ended two days of solid gains; it was down as much as 32 points early in the session, but was only off 5.53 points or 0.06% at 9996.50 at noon, while the Nasdaq was down 2.52 or 0.13% at 1967.47 and the S&P 500 was ahead by less than a point at 0,06 to 1125.46.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.40 of a cent at US81.95¢ as the U.S. dollar weakened against other currencies.

On Bay Street, the mining and materials sub-indices led the TSX lower; they were off 2.14% and 1.06% respectively as investors seemed worried by moves by China to hike interest rates by 0.27 point, the first time country has raised rates in nine years. China’s booming economy has been a driving force behind global demand for raw materials and the corresponding rising prices.

Energy shares were down 0.50% as a whole as the price of crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 66¢ cents to US$51.80 a barrel on top of Wednesday’s slide of $2.51 US a barrel. Prices have retreated on the strength of a report from the U.S. Department of Energy showing an increase in crude oil supplies.

The Toronto market’s losses were held in check by moderate gains in the financials and gold sectors, up 0.47% and 0.12%, respectively.

In New York, in addition to concerns about China, analysts said a worse-than-expected U.S. jobless claims report for last week gave investors another excuse to take some profits. The Labor Department reported a sharp uptick in first-time jobless claims last week. The number of Americans filing for unemployment for the first time rose to 350,000, up 20,000 from last week — the largest jump in a month.

In the broader market, decliners were leading advancers 18 to 11 on the New York Stock Exchange and 17 to 10 on the Nasdaq. Big Board volume was about 450 million shares while some 580 million shares traded on the Nasdaq.

Investors also had a slew of earnings reports to hash over, including a strong report from blue chip ExxonMobil. The oil giant’s shares fell 0.1% to US$48.90, however, as the strong report wasn’t enough to offset the weakness in energy prices.

In overseas markets, London’s FTSE 100 index traded 8.9 points lower at 4,639. Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.86%, while the Paris CAC 40 gained 1.04%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues rose 161.17 points to 10.853.12 largely due to U.S. stock gains on Wednesday.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index rose 274.44 points, or 2.1%, to 13,113.15.