North American stock markets recovered from earlier losses Thursday after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it sees the end to recent run of bank writedowns.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index closed up 146.15 points, or 1.10%, to end at 13,443.50.

Seven of the 10 major TSX groups gained today.

The materials group rose 2.69%, led by the gold sub-index, which shot up 3.41% on gold prices topping US$1,000 an ounce.

Gold hit a record high of US$1,001.50 and ounce earlier, but the April contract settled up US$13.30 at US$993.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Goldcorp shares gained $1.52, or 3.57%, to close at $44.11. And Kinross Gold Corp. stock closed up 71¢, or 2.80%, at $26.08 on a heavy day of trading (10,463,447 shares).

The heavyweight energy group gained 1.79%, as crude for April delivery closed up 41¢, or 0.4%, at US$110.33 a barrel on the Nymex.

Encana Corp. shares closed up $2.30, or 3.04%, at $77.96. Suncor Energy Inc. stock closed up $1.93, or 1.84%, at $107.06.

The financials group remained relatively flat, closing down 0.22% just hours after Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney expressed great confidence in the country’s financial institutions.

In individual stocks, Biovail Corp. shares gained 17¢, or 1.3%, to close at $13.29, after it announced losses of $32 million, or 20¢ a share, for Q4, and company founder Eugene Melnyk said he‚s looking to replace the board of directors.

Meanwhile, Bombardier Inc. shares gained 18¢, or 3.35%, to end at $5.56, after it confirmed a US$239 million dollar jet order from the Iraqi government, with an option for more aircraft.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 7.45 points, or 0.28%, to end at 2,680.67.

The Canadian dollar closed out at US$1.01 today.

In New York, stocks recovered from earlier losses after S&P said the end to subprime-related writedowns is in sight, triggering a rebound in financial shares.

The ratings agency said writedowns for large financial institutions are likely past the halfway mark

The Dow Jones industrial gained 35.50 points, or 0.29%, to end at 12,145.74. The S&P 500 gained 6.71 points, or 0.51%, to close at 1,315.48.

As well, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 19.74 points, or 0.88%, at 2,263.61.