Falling gold futures kept Bay Street in check, while falling oil prices helped boost Wall Street on Tuesday morning as U.S. investors headed to the polls in what markets on both sides of the border hope will be a decisive vote for U.S. president.

At just before midday, the S&P/TSX was virtually unchanged, up 0.02 of a point to 8858.25, after spending most of the session in the red; the TSX Venture Exchange had slipped 11.98 points or 0.75% to 1595.67. The Dow Jones industrial average continued its winning ways; it was up 51.69 points or 0.51% at 10106.08, while the Nasdaq was ahead by 18.66 or 0.94% to 1998.53, and the S&P 500 advanced 7.80 points or 0.69% to 1138.31.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.32 of a cent to US81.48¢.

In Toronto, the TSX gold sub-index kept a lid on the big market, slipping 3.31% as a group as gold prices slid. December gold at the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division reached US$423.70 an ounce by mid-morning, off $4.50 on the day, trading between US$428.80 and US$423.20.

The TSX energy group was down 0.66% as oil prices continued to ease ahead of the U.S. vote. Rising U.S. crude inventories, signs of a slowdown in global economic growth and speculation that an election victory for Senator John Kerry could prove bearish for oil have triggered a 10 percent decline from last Monday’s price peaks. U.S. crude on Tuesday was off 9¢ at US$50.04 a barrel following Monday’s $1.63 drop when prices dipped below US$50 for the first time in a month. Even a series of sabotage attacks in Iraq that have closed the country’s northern export pipeline failed to lift prices.

Elsewhere in Toronto, technology issues were the main mover on the positive side; they were ahead by 1.16%, while financial stocks were up 0.59%, health care issues were ahead by 1.01% and the industrials sub-group gained 0.19%.

Among the more active stocks was Descartes Systems, up 19.26%, Bank of Nova Scotia, up 0.28%, and Placer Dome, off 3.36%.

In New York, most analysts agreed that a clear winner by Wednesday morning — or at least a credible claim of victory by either candidate — would boost the market. But if the election appeared to be headed for a prolonged court battle like in 2000, stocks could fall sharply.

Trading volume was higher than expected, as many investors seemed confident that the close race would yield a winner quickly. The Labor Department’s monthly job creation report, due Friday, kept some investors out of the market until the key economic indicator was released.

Insurance stocks fell as Merrill Lynch downgraded Aon Corp. and Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in response to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigations of the two companies.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 452.61 million shares, compared with 358.74 million at the same point on Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 2.61, or 0.4%, at 589.61.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.43%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.34%, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.48%, and France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.69%.