Canada's energy-laden main stock market in Toronto waged a strong comeback as crude prices bounced up from recent tailspin sell-off.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index regained 192.75 points, or 1.63 percent, to close at 12,035.86 points on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Half of the TSX index's eight main sectors turned positive.
The most influential drags on Thursday were the railways, with Canadian Pacific Railway Limited falling 0.88 percent to 149.84 Canadian dollars a share after it missed profit expectations on lower freight volumes.
The Canadian dollar gained more than one US cent on Thursday as oil prices recovered from their worst one-day plunge since September.
The Canadian dollar closed higher at $0.7003, compared with Tuesday's closing rate of $0.6901.