The Toronto stock market pushed higher on Thursday, lifted by strong resource issues, after gold and oil prices touched record highs for a second day in a row.

The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 51.44 points, or 0.37%, at 13,978.20

The benchmark index climbed more than 100 points to push above the 14,000 mark for the first time in three weeks, before easing, hampered in part by worries over inflation.

Seven of the 10 TSX main groups finished lower.

The materials sector, home to resource shares, was up 2.1%.

The gold subsector soared 3.7% as the price of bullion surged as high as US$869.05 an ounce before easing to US$862.90.

Barrick Gold rose $2.78, or 6.1%, to $48.43,

The heavyweight energy sector finished up 1.5%.

Oil briefly broke the US$100 a barrel level it reached on Wednesday, before retreating 44¢ to settle at $99.18,

Suncor Energy shares were up $2.23, or 2%, at $111.84, and Petro-Canada gained 56¢, or 1%, to $55.35.

The financials group fell 0.7%, as Royal Bank of Canada slipped 45¢, or 0.9%, to $49.75, and TD gave up 38¢, or 0.6%, to $67.74.

Kingsway Financial Services rose 53¢, or 4.5%, to $12.44 after it allayed concerns that it would need to raise funds to help a struggling U.S. unit.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 15.11 points, or 0.53%, to finish at 2,885.60.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.19 of a cent to US100.92¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks ended little changed on as anxiety that Friday’s U.S. payrolls data may suggest the economy is headed into recession offset news that factory orders rose in November.

The U.S. government said factory orders rose more than expected in November, in sharp contrast to a private group’s data on Wednesday showing manufacturing activity had contracted in December.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 12.76 points, or 0.10%, at 13,056.72. The S&P 500 was unchanged at 1,447.16. The Nasdaq Composite index was down 6.95 points, or 0.27%, at 2,602.68.