TORONTO -- Despite losing some ground to start the week, North American stock markets concluded an exceptionally strong month of November on the back of positive news about COVID-19 vaccines.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 191.13 points to 17,205.43, but was up more than 10 per cent for the month.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 271.73 points at 29,638.64. The S&P 500 index was down 16.72 points at 3,621.63, while the Nasdaq composite was down 7.11 points at 12,198.74.

The Canadian dollar traded for 77.13 cents US compared with 77.01 cents US on Friday.

The January crude contract was down 19 cents at US$45.34 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up 3.9 cents at US$2.88 per mmBTU.

The February gold contract was down US$7.20 at US$1,780.90 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 2.05 cents at nearly US$3.44 a pound.