Toronto stocks closed higher Wednesday, but fell back from the 9,000 point level hit earlier in the session. The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 35.60 points, or 0.54%, at 8,987.60.

Volume was a robust 339 million shares.

Six of the 10 TSX main groups were in positive territory, with techs up 2.8% and consumer staples rising 1.2%.

Research In Motion climbed 6% to $104.10. The company said earlier on Wednesday the number of subscribers to their Blackberry handheld devices passed the two million mark.

Tech bellwether Nortel Networks was up 4.8% at $3.95.

Gold issues rose 2%, as bullion prices climbed to US$445 an ounce as the U.S. dollar weakened.

Barrick Gold rose almost 3% to $28.76, while Bema Gold advanced nearly 5% to $4.25.

Health care stocks slipped 2.97% as Biovail stock hit a 52-week low. The firm announced that a rival drug maker is seeking U.S. approval for a generic version of Wellbutrin XL, an antidepressant that is Biovail’s leading product. Biovail shares fell 9% to $18.72.

Among individual stocks, shares in pipeline operator Enbridge jumped 1.2% to $53.45 after the firm said is going south with a US$613 million purchase of Shell’s natural gas network in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana and Mississippi

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 20.04 points, or 1.21%, at 1,680.12, on volume of 88 million shares.

U.S. stocks ended higher but off their best levels Wednesday as a spike in oil and concern over a weakening dollar blunted a rally sparked by Kmart’s US$11 billion merger with Sears, strong Hewlett-Packard earnings and solid economic data.

HP closed up 2.5% a day after the computer maker posted a 27% jump in quarterly profit.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 61.92 points, or 0.59%, at 10,549.57, after climbing as high as 10,602.85 in late morning trading.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 21.06 points, 1.01%, to 2,099.68. A broad rally in technology shares, led by hardware stocks underpinned the gains on the tech-rich index.

The S&P 500 index was up 6.51 points, or 0.55% at 1,181.94.