Toronto stocks closed higher Thursday after Rogers Communications announced plans to take its wireless arm private, and the heavily weighted financial services group advanced. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 44.50 points, or 0.5%, at 8,886.17.

Volume was a light 206 million shares because of Remembrance Day ceremonies in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States.

Nine of the 10 TSX groups closed higher, led by a 2.6% boost in the telecommunications group, and a 2.3% gain in healthcare stocks.

Telecommunications stocks were led higher by Rogers Wireless, which climbed $6.13, or 14%, to $49.30, after its parent company, Rogers Communications launched a bid to take the wireless arm private.

Rogers Communications dropped 15¢, or 0.5%, to $28.70.

Financial stocks advanced 0.6%. Royal Bank shares gained 40¢ to $63.70, while Manulife Financial added 2¢ to $54.57.

Shares of Power Financial gained 78¢, or 2.6%, to $30.80 after the holding company reported weaker third-quarter earnings, but increased its dividend.

Among technology issues, Nortel dropped 24¢, or 5.6%, to $4.04 after the firm said it has again delayed filing its restated financial results, mainly because of revenue reporting problems.

Energy stocks slipped 0.5% as oil prices continued to fall.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 12.69 points, or 0.78%, at to 1,645.36.

The Bank of Canada was closed on Thursday for Remembrance Day, so no official closing figure for the Canadian dollar was available.

In late afternoon, the loonie was trading at US83.64¢, down from Wednesday’s close of US83.75¢.

U.S. stocks ended higher Thursday, helped by technology shares like Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., which received a brokerage upgrade, and crude oil prices dropping below $48 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 84.36 points, or 0.81%, at 10,469.84, its highest close in more than four months

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 26.71 points, or 1.31%, to 2,061.27, its highest close in seven months.

The broader S&P 500 gained 10.57 points, or 0.91%, to 1,173.48. That is its highest close since August 2001.

After the closing bell, Dell reported a higher quarterly profit.