North American markets end mixed

Rising stocks in the energy, financial and mining sectors helped send the S&P/TSX composite index to a gain of more than three per cent on Friday. .

After earlier rising more than 500 points, the TSX ultimately finished with a gain of 292.52 points at 9,562.49, led by a gain of just under two per cent for the heavily weighted financial services group.

Among Canadian bank stocks, Bank of Montreal rose more than five per cent to $43.75.

The energy subgroup was up 6.9 cent, boosted by a jump of $2 US in the price for a barrel of oil, which settled at $71.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil earlier got as high as $74.30 US.

The mining group rose by 4.9 per cent.

In the U.S., markets endured another volatile session, punctuated by a late-session wilt.

After making triple-digits gains earlier in the session, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 127.04, or 1.4 per cent, at 8,852.22.

The Nasdaq composite index shed 6.4 per cent to end at 1,711, while the broader S&P 500 index gave back 5.9 points to conclude at 940.55.

U.S. investors struggled to digest weak housing data with some healthy profit reports, such as Google, which saw its stock rise $19.52 US to $372.54.

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