The Toronto stock market logged its third consecutive day of gains Thursday as investors gave an extra surge in the final minutes of trading, pushing the benchmark to a triple-digit gain.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index closed the day up 354.65 points to 9,856.21, with about one-third of that gain coming at the very end of regular trading.

The main index now up more than 1,300 points since Monday but remains down substantially from about 14,200 at the start of the year.

"I would be awfully surprised if after the kind of gains we've had over the last couple of days that we were able to stretch that out too much further," said Fred Ketchen, manager of equity trading at Scotia Capital.

"I think the market has to calm down a little bit here."

New York markets endured a volatile session on Thursday but also ended the day up.

The Dow Jones industrials closed up 189.73 points to 9,180.69. Earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department said gross domestic product shrank at a 0.3 per cent annual rate in the July-September quarter as consumers cut their spending by the biggest amount in 28 years.

It was the worst GDP showing since the economy contracted at a 1.4 per cent pace in the third quarter of 2001, during the last recession. But it was better than the 0.5 per cent pullback expected by private-sector economists.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.47 cents US at 82.10 cents US after surging 3.67 cents on Wednesday. The loonie had risen even further two cents in overseas trading but gave up some of its gains.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 21.43 points to 879.75.

New York's Nasdaq composite index gained 41.31 points to 1,698.52 while the S&P 500 rose 24 points to 954.09 a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate by half a point to stimulate the economy.

The Toronto stock market got a lift from the energy sector, though oil prices were trading weaker than earlier in the session.

The TSX oil and gas group was ahead five per cent despite the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipping back $1.54 to close at US$65.96 a barrel, following a gain of almost $5 on Wednesday.

Gold bullion dropped two per cent, or $15.50, to US$738.50 an ounce, though the TSX gold gained 4.6 per cent.

Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) rose $1.98 to $29.88 after reporting third-quarter net income of US$254 million, down from $345 million a year earlier. The Toronto-headquartered global gold giant said that excluding $97 million in one-time charges, it earned $351 million or 40 cents per share, a nickel short of analyst EPS expectations.

Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) gained $1.02 to $24.52.

EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) ran up $3.50 to $62.70 while Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) improved $4.09 to $62.34.

In New York, Exxon Mobil Corp. was ahead 17 cents to US$74.47 as it broke its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation. The world's biggest publicly traded oil company earned $14.83 billion in the third quarter, bolstered by the summer's record crude prices.

The TSX base metals sector advanced 5.5 per cent while the December copper contract rose 0.0095 cents to US$1.90 a pound after surging 23 cents in the previous session.

Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B) rose five cents to $12.40.

The TSX financial sector was up 2.5 per cent as Royal Bank (TSX:RY) gained $2.15 to $47.58.

Cogeco Inc. (TSX:CGO) reduced its outlook for next year while it posted $9.7 million in profit for the quarter ended Aug. 31, down from a year-ago profit of $30.4 million which was enhanced by one-time gains. Shares dropped 89 cents to $23.49.

Canaccord Capital Inc. (TSX:CCI), one of Canada's largest independent brokerage firms, dropped 12 cents to $5.73 after it disclosed it is laying off about 10 per cent of its staff -- roughly 170 people -- and cutting executive salaries by 10 to 20 per cent.

Sprott Inc. (TSX:SII) booked third-quarter earnings of $3.7 million, up from $3.5 million a year earlier, despite financial-market turmoil that cut its assets under management by 27 per cent to $5.6 billion during the quarter. Shares in the resource-heavy Toronto money manager added 22 cents to $3.50, down from their May issue price of $10.

TransForce Inc. (TSX:TFI) hauled in a 23 per cent rise in third-quarter revenue at $595.5 million and increased its pre-tax profit by 31 per cent to $38.4 million despite "weak" trucking and logistics industry conditions. Its net income was cut by heavy tax provisions following its conversion from an income trust, but its stock moved ahead 40 cents to $5.00.

Motorola Inc. posted a hefty loss in the third quarter due to continued troubles in its cellphone division. The maker of communications gear lost $397 million against earnings of US$60 million a year ago. Motorola shares fell 35 cents to US$5.11.