Toronto stocks ended higher Thursday, pulled ahead by a rise in resource stocks but weighed down somewhat by a negative day in the technology sectors.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 35.76, or 0.32%, to 11,167.19.

Volume on the senior exchange was 300 million shares.

Half of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy group up 2.19%.

Light sweet crude for January delivery climbed $1.45 to settle at US$60.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Enbridge Inc. and Enbridge Energy Partners LP announced construction has started on a US$950-million pipeline expansion expected to carry crude from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest. Enbridge fell 45¢, or 1.26%, to $35.32.

Gold stocks gained 1.21%. Goldcorp. Gained 57¢, or 2.37%, to $24.62.

The IT sector fell 1.28%, which was attributable, in part, to Research in Motion, which lost 85¢, or 1.38%, to $60.75.

The telecommunications services sector was off 0.37%, with MTS Services down 97¢, or 2.46%, to $8.53.

The financials sector fell 0.38%.

National Bank reported its fourth-quarter profit rose 8% to $207 million, with 2005 earnings of $855 million, up 18% from last year. Its shares fell 82¢, or 1.36%, to $59.61.

In economic news, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose just over 222,000 units in November, a rise of approximately 7.5%.

Statistics Canada reported prices of new homes at the national level in October by 0.7% over September’s number.

The Canadian dollar closed at US86.30¢, up 0.2 of cent from Wednesday’s close.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index finished up 9.52, or 0.45%, to 2,130.16.

In New York, higher energy prices plus a report from Toll Brothers suggesting a downturn in the real estate market for 2006 put stocks in negative territory.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 55.79, or 0.52 %, to 10,755.12, the S&P500 index fell 1.53, or 0.12%, to 1,255.84, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.56, or 0.25%, to 2,246.45.