A small dose of good news about oil prices together with a healthy dose of buying on weakness helped push North American markets into positive territory on Monday.

At close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite was up 68.86 points or 0.84% at 8241.49, while the junior TSX Venture Exchange was almost unchanged — up 0.99 of a point or 0.07% to 1481.

In New York, The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 129.2 points or 1.31% to 9954.55. The Nasdaq gained 25.62 points or 1.46% at 1782.84, while the S&P 500 rose 14.54 points or 1.37% to 1079.34.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.07 of a cent to US76.47¢.

All but two of the TSX index’s sub-groups were higher, with information technology group leading the way at 2.82%. Meanwhile, gold issues were up 1.94% as were metals (4.13%) and financial shares 0.55%.

Energy issues fell 0.2% despite weaker oil prices, which dipped after reports of victory for Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in a referendum on his rule eased fears of violence disrupting the country’s oil exports. The rise in oil prices had put pressure on the market in recent weeks as it pushed through new record highs.

A barrel of light crude oil was quoted at US$46.20 a barrel, down 38¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

With investors shying away from oil stocks, they decided to grab cheap technology stocks that have been beaten down in recent weeks. Among the big movers in technology stocks were Research In Motion, which gained 5.11%, BCE Emergis (3.21%) and ATI Technologies (5.08%).