North American markets were mixed Friday morning, with Toronto pushed lower by gold and financials shares, while New York was up as a dip in oil prices and a satisfactory report on durable goods orders cheered U.S. investors.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX was down almost 21 points or 0.24% to 8570.72, while the TSX venture exchange was up 2.22 points or 0.14% to 1546.62. In new York, the Dow Jones industrial had advanced 11.21 points or 0.11% to 10050.11. The Nasdaq was ahead 1.35 points or 0.07% to 1887.78 and the S&P 500 had gained 2.27 points or 0.2% to 1110.63.

The Canadian dollar continued its recent charge, gaining 0.17 of a cent to US78.34¢.

On Bay Street, gold and financial stocks led the way lower on the TSX, both falling about 0.7%. Gold shares were affected by the drop in the price of gold, which was trading US$3.60 lower at US$406.73 in London late in the day.

Among the notable loser in the financials group were Power Corp. of Canada, off 1.29% to $29.03; Sun Life Financial, down 0.64% to $37.26,and TSX Inc., off 0.86% to $45.01. Great-West Lifeco Inc., whose shareholders Friday approved a subdivision of the company’s common shares on a two-for-one basis, was trading lower, down 0.29% to $51.45.

Energy stocks were up, gaining 0.23%, although the price of crude dipped slightly. Meanwhile, shares in Petro-Canada reversed direction, falling 0.31% to $64.30 a day after the federal government announced that the sale price of its remaining 19%cent stake in the company has been set at $64.50 a share, about $3 higher than indicated last week.

In New York, the price of crude for November delivery was down 29¢ to US$48.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

U.S. investors also got a lift from a Commerce Department report on durable goods orders for August. While orders for goods designed to last three or more years fell 0.5% for the month, a large falloff in aircraft orders was to blame. Without transportation equipment, durable goods orders actually rose a strong 2.3% — a sign that businesses and consumers may have started spending again after a nervous summer.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.1%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1%, Germany’s DAX index dropped 0.3%, and France’s CAC-40 gained 0.1%.