Rising gold stocks helped push the S&P/TSX composite index higher for a third straight session Monday, while Wall Street indices also made modest advances.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 17.65 points at 15,269.85, aided in part by gains in health care, info technology and real estate stocks.

Shares in technology firm BlackBerry Ltd. rose more than 2% after the Waterloo, Ont.-based company announced plans to spend $100 million to develop secure software for autonomous cars. It formally opened a research centre in Ottawa, where it expects to hire 600 employees. BlackBerry’s shares gained 23¢ to $10.34 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.65 points at 19,883.06 and the S&P 500 climbed 4.46 points to 2,262.53. The Nasdaq composite added 20.28 points to 5,457.44.

North American markets have been on a bit of a tear in recent weeks, particularly in light of economic data that suggests the U.S. economy is strengthening.

Craig Fehr, a Canadian strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis, said he expects stock markets to be trading at lower volumes over the next two weeks as traders wrap up for the end of the year and head off on their holidays.

Even so, the markets are expected to conclude the year on a bright note.

“Clearly, it’s been a strong end to the market,” Fehr said.

“Broadly, it’s a reflection of the fact that we’ve seen a little bit of a pivot in sentiment in equity markets. It’s been underpinned by rising expectations by U.S. economic growth and what that means for growth around the world.”

In commodities, the February gold contract rose US$5.30 to US$1,142.70 an ounce, the January natural gas contract lost US2¢ at US$3.39 per mmBtu and the March contract for copper dropped US7¢ at US$2.50 per pound.

Oil prices had been lower earlier in the day, but the January crude oil contract managed to gain US22¢ at US$52.12 per barrel by the close.

The February contract, which had a larger trading volume, added US11¢ to finish at US$53.06 per barrel.

The Canadian dollar, which often trades in tandem with crude, was an outlier, losing US0.41¢ to US74.53¢.