TORONTO -- North American stock markets ended a two-day slide as the rising price of gold offset the impact of falling oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 10.02 points at 16,494.23.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 3.12 points at 27,222.97. The S&P 500 index was up 10.69 points at 2,995.11, while the Nasdaq composite was up 22.04 points at 8,207.24.

The Canadian dollar traded for an average of 76.52 cents US compared with an average of 76.61 cents US on Wednesday.

The September crude contract was down US$1.50 at US$55.42 and the August natural gas contract was down 1.7 cents at US$2.29 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract was up US$4.80 at US$1,428.10 per barrel an ounce and the September copper contract was down 0.6 of a cent at US$2.71 a pound.