Stocks in Toronto rose for a third straight session today. The techs rallied to lead the market to its best closing in almost six months. Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index closed up 64.61 points, or 0.95%, at 6,837.27.

Nine of the TSX’s 10 sub-indexes closed higher. The information technology sector closed up 4.3%. Shares of telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. climbed 24¢, or 8%, toC$3.15, while Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. ended the session up 42¢, or nearly 11%, to $4.32. The financial sub-index added 1% gain.

Investors were buoyed by anticipation that U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to announce details of a $600 billion economic stimulus package on Tuesday.

Though, the optimism didn’t spread to the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index. It closed down 0.53 at 1102.15. Trading was very heavy on a volume of 55.2 million shares worth 19.8 million dollars, with 207 advances, 212 declines and 542 issues unchanged.

South of the 49th parallel, the White House stimulus plan is expected to give nearly 100 million taxpayers an average tax cut of $1,083. Elimination of taxes on dividends is also expected. It will deprive government coffers of $300 billion over 10 years. But experts say the cut could boost stock prices by 10% or more. That speculation pushed up the stocks of companies that pay dividends.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 171.88 points, or 2%, to 8,773.57, while the broad S&P 500 gained 20.42 points, or 2.25%, to 929.01. The Nasdaq composite index rose 34.17 points, or 2.46%, to 1,421.25.