The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Canada's benchmark stock index closed lower Thursday, pressured by declines in the materials and energy sectors amid a pullback in commodity prices. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that the S&P 500 closed nominally higher, retracing early gains just before the closing bell on the penultimate trading day of 2023. The S&P 500 concluded the light volume session just 0.3 per cent shy of its record closing high, reached on Jan. 3, 2022. The blue-chip Dow ended modestly green while Nasdaq closed a hair lower. All three indexes remained on track for monthly, quarterly, and annual gains. "This is one of the best end-of-year rallies we've ever seen and a lot of this rally happened before the Fed pivot in the middle of December," said Ryan Detrick at Carson Group in Omaha. "It's a nice reminder of how far we've come from the depths of the bear market last year and reminder to investors that dark clouds happen, but the sun always comes out again." The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 86.53 points. The materials sector lost 1.5 per cent, as U.S. gold futures settled down 0.5 per cent and copper prices lost 1.1 per cent. The energy group lost 1.4 per cent.