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North American markets took another breather after two months of strong growth.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 48.41 points to 16,086.54, to offset Monday’s decline.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 13.02 points at 25,806.63. The S&P 500 index was down 3.16 points at 2,789.65, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1.21 points at 7,576.36.

The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 74.93 cents US compared with an average of 75.09 cents US on Monday.

The April crude contract was down US3¢ at US$56.56 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was up US2.7¢ at US$2.88 per mmBTU.

The April gold contract was down US$2.80 at US$1,284.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was up 2.45 cents at US$2.93 a pound.