TORONTO -- North American equity markets forged strongly ahead Wednesday, fuelled by another big increase in oil prices, as the Canadian dollar continued to creep towards the 80-cent US mark.
At mid-afternoon, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 100.96 points at 13,968.24 on the heels of a 147-point gain Tuesday as the June contract for benchmark oil rose $1.58 to US$44.05 a barrel.
The last time oil closed above US$44 a barrel was Nov. 10.
The oil-sensitive loonie also benefited, rising 0.27 of a U.S. cent to 79.26 cents US as it continued its recent advance to levels not seen since last July.
Elsewhere in commodities, May natural gas was down a penny at US$2.07 per mmBtu, while May copper added two cents to US$2.24 a pound and June gold was unchanged at US$1,254.30 a troy ounce.
Energy stocks were also the main driver in New York as oil prices recovered from an early slide after a strike that halted production in Kuwait came to an end.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 96.45 points at 18,150.05, while the broader S&P 500 added 7.79 points to 2,108.59 and the Nasdaq rebounded 23.64 points to 4,963.97 after the tech-heavy index declined almost 20 points on Tuesday.
Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets, said that after several weeks of moving in different directions, the stock market appears to be getting more closely tied to the fluctuations in oil prices.
"Oil is what's been driving the market lately," Gaffney told The Associated Press.
In corporate news, Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO) shares rose US$1.67 or 4.6 per cent to US$38 a day after saying it was considering the sale of part or all of its Internet business.
In European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.69 per cent, France's CAC-40 added 0.56 per cent and Britain's FTSE 100 increased 0.08 per cent.
In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.19 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.93 per cent, while China's main Shanghai composite fell 2.31 per cent.
