Gold and energy stocks helped push Canadian markets into the black late Wednesday morning, while U.S. markets began to show life after hovering around the unchanged mark.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was up eight points or 0.09% to 8,323.99 after spending most of the early part of the session in the red. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 1.48 points or 0.1% at 1,509.69.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average was up 20.13 points or 0.2% to 10118.76. It spent most of the session virtually unchanged from Tuesday, while trading volumes continued to be light. The Nasdaq was up 6.04 points or 0.33% at 1842.93 and the S&P 500 edged up 2.17 points or 0.2% to 1098.36.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.11 of a cent to US76.66¢.

In Toronto, gold shares were up 1.95% largely on heavy trading in Iamgold Corp. Shares in the company, which recently unveiled a deal with gold giant Gold Fields Ltd., were ahead 3%. Energy stocks were up 0.21%.

On the downside, industrials were off 0.8% while technology stocks slipped 0.47%. Bombardier Inc. was among the most active stock in morning trading. The Montreal-based plane and train maker, which reported a 66% drop in second quarter earnings, saw its stock fall 4.84% on volume of more than 13.5 million shares. Nortel Networks Corp. was off 2.13%.

Financials were up slightly. But TD Bank Financial Group was down 2.83% on news it was in talks about acquiring a major stake in Maine-based Banknorth Group. CIBC was losing 0.36% after it reported a 21% drop in third-quarter profit.

Meanwhile, on their last day of trading, Air Canada shares were ahead 10% on volume of more than 23 million shares. The current common and A shares are being de-listed to be replaced by a new Air Canada offering this fall.

In the U.S., the Commerce Department said orders for durable goods -big-ticket items expected to last at least three years -rose 1.7% in July from the previous month -lifted by stronger demand for goods including airplanes, machinery and communications equipment. The increase in orders for costly manufactured goods in July was the biggest gain in four months.

Separately, the department found sales of new homes declined by 6.4 percent in July, a far steeper loss than analysts had expected. The decline left home sales at their lowest level since December. Figures for June was also revised lower.

In overseas markets, London’s FTSE 100 was down 7.4 points at 4,400.1. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was down 0.03%, while the CAC 40 was down 0.21% in Paris.

Asian shares closed mostly higher, with prices in Tokyo and Hong Kong extending their recent gains to a third consecutive session as lower oil prices and other factors boosted investor sentiment. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues jumped 144.69 points, or 1.32%, to 11,130.02.

Shares in Hong Kong extended a recent rally fuelled by optimism that the territory’s long stretch of deflation has ended, as the government reported on Monday. The Hang Seng Index climbed 146.54 points, or 1.16%, to finish at 12,793.03.