Toronto stocks rose Monday boosted by gains in the heavily weighted financial group and a rebound in technology shares. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 53.59 points, or 0.60%, at 8,949.96 on volume of 117 million shares.

Technology shares were up 1.57% as Nortel shares recovered from last week’s drubbing, when the firm announced yet another delay in refilling its financial statements. Nortel shares were trading up 7¢, or 1.96%, at $3.65.

Financial stocks rose 1.17%, following profit taking on Friday.

CIBC shares climbed $1.40, or 2%, to $72.61, after the bank said it will post an $85 million gain from selling interests in Republic Bank Ltd. of Trinidad and Tobago.

Other banks stocks were also higher. TD gained 71¢ to $48.35, while Royal Bank added 46¢ to $63.68. Insurers Manulife Financial and Sun Life also posted gains.

Energy stocks slumped 1.12% as the price of crude oil fell below US$47 a barrel.

Gold stocks dipped 0.35% as gold futures slipped from a 16-year high. Gold for December delivery traded at US$436.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down US$1.40.1988.

Shares of Kinross Gold fell 34¢ to $9.58, after the firm said it is restating its third-quarter financial report, issued less than three weeks ago, to show a loss of US$133.6 million instead of a profit. Kinross said Monday it has changed its methodology for allocating “goodwill” values among its assets.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index inched higher by 0.70 of a point to 1,659.65.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.67 of a cent at US83.17¢ following the release a report from Statistics Canada that showed manufacturing shipments retreated 0.6% to $50.4 billion in September, as a marked decline in the aerospace industry weakened production.

The decreased ended a nine-month climb for shipments.

On Wall Street, U.S. markets were flat at midday. The Dow Jones industrial average was off 0.45 of a point at 10,538.56.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 0.55 of a point at 2,084.79. The broader S&P 500 was off 2.77 points to 1,181.40.

In other market news, Legg Mason Inc. fell 68¢ to US$66.47 after it agreed to buy Scudder Private Investment Counsel and its US$5.8 billion in assets from Deutsche Bank, a deal that expands its money management business for high net worth individuals.

Legg Mason will pay US$55 million when the deal closes as expected by December 31.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against Conrad Black, the ousted CEO of Hollinger International Inc., and his top deputy David Radler, accusing the men of improperly diverting funds from the newspaper publisher over a period of four years, the SEC announced on Monday.