Rising oil prices helped Canada’s main stock index move higher, capping off a week of strong gains for North American markets .

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 44.98 points to 15,452.64, led by the influential energy sector.

South of the border, U.S. stocks finished mostly higher after a see-sawing day.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 19.01 points to 25,219.38. The S&P 500 index added 1.02 points to 2,732.22 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 16.96 points to 7,239.47.

The past week has seen the TSX recover roughly a third of its losses and Wall Street more than half, following a series of wild swings in early February.

The Canadian dollar closed at an average trading value of US79.74¢, down 0.22 of a U.S. cent.

The April crude contract was up US38¢ to US$61.55 per barrel and the March natural gas contract was down US2¢ at US$2.56 per mmBTU.

The April gold contract was up US90¢ to US$1,356.20 an ounce and the March copper contract was unchanged at US$3.25 a pound.

Canadian financial markets will be closed Monday.