Toronto stocks closed higher Monday in a broad-based rally sparked by an unexpectedly strong manufacturing report released in the U.S. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 88.72 points, or 1.27%, to close at 7,099.27.

The heavily weighted financial stocks rose 1.8% led by Royal Bank and CIBC.
Royal added rose $1.01 to $59.84, while CIBC added $1.27 to $53.85.

The information technology sector added 1%., while energy stocks were the only group to close lower, slipping 0.07%.

Celestica gained 74¢ to $21.95, while Research In Motion rose 39¢ to $28.88.

RIM received positive investor attention as Raymond James and UBS Warburg increased their target prices for the stock because of strong subscriber growth for its BlackBerry e-mail device.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange closed up 2.15 points at 1,119.57.

In New York, stocks ended sharply higher after a report on New York state’s manufacturing sector proved surprisingly strong and sparked hopes that the U.S. economy will recover later this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 201.84 points, or 2.21%, at 9,318.96. The S&P index rose 22.24 points, or 2.25%, to 1,010.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbed 40.09 points, or 2.46%.

The good news south of the border clipped the wings of the loonie. The Canadian dollar fell sharply against the U.S. greenback closing at US74.45¢, compared with US74.91 ¢at Friday’s close.