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North American stock markets ended a two-day slide as the rising price of gold offset the impact of falling oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 10.02 points at 16,494.23.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 3.12 points at 27,222.97. The S&P 500 index was up 10.69 points at 2,995.11, while the Nasdaq composite was up 22.04 points at 8,207.24.

The Canadian dollar traded for an average of US76.52¢ compared with an average of US76.61¢ on Wednesday.

The September crude contract was down US$1.50 at US$55.42 and the August natural gas contract was down US1.7¢ at US$2.29 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract was up US$4.80 at US$1,428.10 per barrel an ounce and the September copper contract was down US0.6¢ at US$2.71 a pound.