Toronto stocks started a holiday-shortened week by posting solid gains Tuesday. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 66.16 points, or 0.70%, at 9,518.35 points.

The market was closed on Monday for the Victoria Day holiday.

Volume was 197 million shares.

The TSX’s 10 main groups were evenly split among winners and losers.

Energy stocks rose 2.23% as the group played catch-up to the price of crude, which inched back closer to US$50 a barrel over renewed gasoline stockpile concerns ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day long weekend and the summer driving season.

Talisman Energy Inc. rose $1.60, or 4.22, or $39.48, while Petro-Canada rose $1.30, or 1.9%, to $69.55

Gold mining stocks, a subgroup of the materials index, were up 4.17%. Bullion price rose to just under US$418 an ounce after sliding to a three-month low earlier in the session.

Bema Gold Corp. was up 30¢, or 13.82%, at $2.47.

Materials companies were up 1.4%. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. gained 22¢, or 2.72%, to $8.30.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 3.02 points to end at 1,606.55.

The Canadian dollar closed at US79.38¢, up 0.40 cents from Friday’s close. Statistics Canada said its composite leading indicator, which forecasts economic health, rose 0.4 per cent last month. That was its biggest jump since last fall.

The Bank of Canada makes an interest rate policy announcement Wednesday morning, but no change is expected.

Bank of Montreal and CIBC also report earnings Wednesday, kicking off the quarterly earnings parade for the banks.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue-chip stocks closed slightly lower on, after Federal Open Market Committee minutes gave no sign when the central bank would ease its campaign of interest-rate hikes.

Major decliners included Dow component General Motors, after Fitch Ratings cut its debt to junk.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.88 points, or 0.19%, to end at 10,503.68. The S&P 500 Index edged up just 0.21 of a point, or 0.02%, to close at 1,194.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index advanced 4.97 points, or 0.24%, to finish at 2,061.62, marking its eighth straight day of gains.