Canadian markets, fuelled by energy stocks, held on to early gains Wednesday, while U.S. markets managed to stay in the black after data on manufacturing activity and construction spending came in as expected.

At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 3.7 points or 0.04% to 8380.73, while the TSX Venture Exchange edged 2.04 points or 0.13% higher at 1526.83.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 5.31 points or 0.05% to 10179.23. The Nasdaq composite index gained 15.20 points or 0.83% at 1853.3, while the S&P 500 index was 2.36 points or 0.21% higher at 1,106.60.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.30 of a cent to US76.46¢.

On the TSX, energy stocks were the only major sub-group in the black. They was up 1.53% as a whole after oil prices edged up 56¢ to US$42.68 a barrel in New York after eight days of declines. Shares of TransCanada Corp. and Petro-Canada were both up after they said they plan to build a $660-million liquefied natural gas plant in Gros Cacouna, Que., about 15 kilometres northeast of Rivière-du-Loup. TransCanada was ahead 17¢ or 0.62% to $27.66, while PetroCanada was up $1.13 or 1.84% to $ 62.48.

Gold shares were off (1.16%) after gold for December delivery fell US$2.90 to trade at US$409.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Goldcorp Inc. fell 35¢ or 2.07% to $16. 59 after Rob McEwen announced Wednesday his intention to step down as chief executive of the company after 18 years at the helm.

Also slipping were industrial stocks (down 0.37%) as two big publishing firms, Transcontinental Inc. (off 12¢ or 0.47% to $25.38) and Quebecor World (off 30¢ or 1.04% to $28.60) were both down.

The information technology sector was drag, falling 0.72%, led by a 22.5% plunge in the shares in Open Text Corp. The stock was off $6.36 to $21.86 after the business software maker’s outlook for its current quarter failed to live up to analysts’ expectations. The company also reported a small drop in its fourth-quarter profit compared with a year ago as it nearly doubled sales.

In the U.S., the August reading on manufacturing from the Institute for Supply Management came in at 59.0, down from 62.0 in July and lower than the 60.0 reading that markets had expected. In other economic data, the U.S. Commerce Department said construction spending in July rose to record high annual rate of $997.2 billion.

The main economic report markets are waiting for, the August U.S. payrolls report, comes out Friday. Economists expect at least 150,000 jobs were created during the month.

Market activity has been light this week with many traders taking the week off as the Republican National Convention dominates New York.

In overseas trading, The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues ended up 45.56 points, or 0.41%, at 11,127.35. On Tuesday, the index lost 102.74 points, or 0.92%.

At mid-morning, London’s FT-SE 100 index gained 41.5 points at 4,500.8.

France’s CAC 40 was ahead 0.63% while Germany’s DAX was up 0.96 per cent.