Rising gold prices helped boost Bay Street Thursday morning, while Wall Street continued to be preoccupied by rising interest rates.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX was the only North American exchange in the black, trading up 45.48 points or 0.54% at 8473.35. The TSX Venture exchange was off 5.82 or 0.38% at 1529.34. In New York, the Dow industrial average was down 11.42 points or 0.11% to 10368.16 after shrinking 0.85 of a point Wednesday. The Nasdaq was off 14.08 points or 0.7% to 1,984.15 after moving 2.63 points higher the day before. The S&P 500 composite was down almost three points or 0.26% to 1130.57.

In Toronto, the gold sector rose as the price of bullion climbed 60¢ to US$385.00 an ounce in New York. Tech stocks were also up as were metals and mining. Among the most active stocks was mining giant Noranda Inc., down 56¢ to $23.50 after running up $2.07 Wednesday on reports that Brazilian iron ore giant CVRD will make a bid for the company.

In the U.S., markets were under pressure as new pricing data raised concerns about interest rates.

A report showing U.S. wholesale prices on the rise kept interest rate concerns prominent. The producer price index for May rose 0.8%, the fastest increase in 14 months, led by increases in food and energy. Excluding those two volatile sectors, the core PPI was up 0.3%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve next meets to set interest rates June 29-30 and markets worry that signs of strong pricing pressures could persuade the Fed to move rates higher at a faster pace than had been expected.

There was positive American employment data. New applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 336,000, the lowest level since May 8. The decline left claims at a level that was lower than the 342,000 that some economists were forecasting.

Another sign of a strengthening U.S. economy did nothing to spur buying. The Conference Board’s Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased to 116.5 last month following rises of 0.1% in April and 0.8% in March. Analysts had been expecting an increase of 0.4% in the gauge of future economic activity for May.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.8 of a cent at US72.67¢.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 stocks dipped 33.82 points, or 0.29%, to 11,607.9. In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 78.92 points or 0.65% closing at 12,082.86.

London’s FTSE 100 edged 5.4 points lower at 4,485.7. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was 0.63% lower and the Paris CAC 40 was unchanged.