Toronto stocks closed higher Monday, as a surge in the materials index led the market forward, despite a negative showing in the energy and financials group.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 60.76, or 0.47%, to 13,110.34, after spending part of the session in negative session.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups finished higher.

The materials sector gained 1.37%, and the gold sub-sector moved up 0.65%, despite a lower price for bullion. Gold futures fell 30¢ to close at US$666.50 an ounce.

Silver Wheaton Corp. gained 23¢, or 1.97%, to $11.91.

The energy sector lost 0.56%.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 86¢ to close at US$71.12 a barrel.

Husky Energy Inc. fell 94¢, or 2.50%, to $36.70.

Financials fell 0.22%. National Bank of Canada ended the session up 4¢, or 0.07%, to $54.84 after falling as low as $53.75 in intraday trading. The bank earlier announced that it would purchase $2 billion worth of asset-backed commercial paper from its clients and mutual funds.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.65 of a cent to US94.87¢.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 3.76 points, or 0.15%, to 2,548.45.

In New York, markets ended mostly higher as investors continued to cautiously buy back into the market after last week’s losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 42.27 points, or 0.32%, to 13,121.35, the Nasdaq inched ahead 3.56, or 0.14%, to 2,508.59, the S&P500 dipped 0.39, or 0.0.3%, to 1,445.55.