Canada's main stock index closed up around 70 points Thursday, with mixed results across sectors, while U.S. markets largely held on to the outsized gains they made the day before. 

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 72.19 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 20,525.45.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 194.76 points at 34,395.01. The S&P 500 Index was down 3.54 points at 4,076.57, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 14.45 points at 11,482.45.

The Canadian dollar traded for 74.44 cents U.S. compared with 74.03 cents U.S. on Wednesday.

The January crude contract was up 67 cents at US$81.22 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was down 19 cents at US$6.74 per mmBTU.

The February gold contract was up US$55.30 at US$1,815.20 an ounce and the March copper contract was up eight cents at US$3.82 a pound.