Toronto stocks finished higher Monday, as investors continued to buy back into the market, despite a lower price for oil, after sell-off sessions earlier this month.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 69.92, or 0.68%, to 10,360.79.

Volume on the senior exchange was 210 million shares.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy sector gaining 2.23%.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery slipped 31¢ to settle at US$60.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as inventories were on the rise, demand eased and Hurricane Wilma had seemingly missed Gulf Coast oil refineries.

EnCana Corp. rose $1.61, or 2.77%, to $59.71, while Precision Drilling gained 83¢, or 1.68%, to $50.10.

The financial sector fell slightly, off 0.05%. The Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 33¢, or 0.59%, to $55.57 as its U.S. banking business TD Banknorth reported a third-quarter profit fall of 9%.

Sleeman Breweries Ltd issued a profit warning for its 2005 fiscal year due to increased competition in the sector. Shares fell 99¢, or 7.61%, to $12.02.

CryptoLogic Inc. announced its licensing deal with Betfair of the U.K. will continue until at least June and might be extended until early 2007. Shares in the gaming software maker gained $1.33, or 7.06%, to $20.16.

The Canadian dollar lifted 0.09 of a cent at US84.25¢.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 6.44, or 0.32%, to 1,993.22.

In New York, markets rallied as investors showed their approval of president George W. Bush’s pick for the new Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke. The current Fed chair, Alan Greenspan, is set to retire in January.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 169.78 points, or 1.66% to close at 10,385, the broader S&P 500 Index advanced 19.76 points, or 1.68%, to finish at 1,199.35 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 33.62 points, or 1.61%, to end 2,115.83.