TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index closed higher yesterday as a record high gold price and a turnaround in oil prices boosted resource issues.

Gold prices surged above $1,180 an ounce on US dollar weakness, while the price of oil settled near $78 a barrel on lower-than-expected builds in US oil inventories.

World No.1 gold producer Barrick Gold gained 1.47 percent to C$46.24, while Teck Resources jumped 3.28 percent to C$37.48. Suncor Energy gained 0.62 percent to C$38.94.

EnCana shares topped the list of most active advancers, up 2.5 percent to C$57.36, after shareholders overwhelmingly approved a plan to split Canada's No. 2 independent petroleum producer into independent oil and natural gas businesses.

Market activity petered out at midafternoon as traders closed up positions ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday today, leaving the index with a stable gain after investors weighed a mixed bag of US economic data.

The market sided with upbeat US October consumer spending and weekly labour data, embracing them as further signs of the strength of the economic recovery, and looked past an unexpected fall in durable good orders.

"Good economic numbers in the US, good commodity numbers. Gold was strong again so that's kept the Toronto market a little higher," said Bruce Latimer, a trader at Dundee Securities.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 97.27 points, or 0.84 percent, at 11,636.9.

Nine of its 10 sectors posted gains.

Canada's dollar ended at its highest closing level in over a month yesterday as commodity prices firmed and Russia's central bank said it wants to invest some of its reserves in the currency.

The Canadian dollar's surge came as its US counterpart weakened, with solid US economic data and a general increase in risk appetite eroding some of the greenback's safe-haven appeal.

Russia's central bank said yesterday it was preparing to invest some foreign exchange reserves in Canadian dollars to diversify its portfolio and lessen reliance on the US dollar in international trade.