The Toronto stock market finished higher after two days of losses Wednesday as energy stocks responded to oil prices hitting an intraday record of almost $90 (U.S.) a barrel and financial stocks improved. But the New York markets closed mixed at the end of a volatile session as early strong gains fired by a series of positive earnings reports gave way to weakness on high oil prices and another round of dismal U.S. housing data. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index drifted down from a morning gain of more than 100 points to negative ground in the afternoon before closing up 66.47 points at 14,219.5 with mining stocks acting as a drag. The TSX Venture Exchange was down 4.95 to 3,009.89. The Canadian dollar surged 0.46 of a cent (U.S.) to 102.50 cents as the greenback fell against other major currencies. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average initially advanced 100 points, tumbled a similar amount during the afternoon and ended the session down 20.4 points to 13,892.54. The Nasdaq composite index gained 28.76 points to 2,792.67 and the S&P 500 index moved 2.71 points higher to 1,541.24 after the U.S. Commerce Department said construction of new homes plunged by 10.2 per cent in September, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.191 million units. On the TSX, the energy sector was ahead 1.8 per cent as crude oil prices also experienced big swings as weekly U.S. inventory figures showed a bigger than expected rise and Turkey's parliament approved a possible cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The November crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 21 cents to $87.40 a barrel after rising as high as $89 a barrel. Canadian Press