Toronto stocks moved higher Tuesday, spurred forward by a strong day in resource stocks, particularly gold issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 70.19 points, or 0.57%, to 12,344.59.

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with only the information technology group, down 0.07%, falling.

The energy index moved up 0.43%. The December contract for light, sweet crude rose 37¢ to US$58.73 a barrel.

Suncor Energy Inc. rose $1.82, or 2.16%, to $86.25.

The materials index gained 0.87%, with the gold sub-index up 1.93%.

Meridian Gold Inc. moved up 72¢, or 2.61%, to $28.27.

The telecommunications services sector gained 1.50%. Telus Corp. was up 93¢, or 1.45%, to $64.93.

The benchmark December contract fell 60¢ to US$606.80 an ounce.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index was up 0.66%.

In New York, markets were little changed on the session, ending an otherwise strong month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.77 points to 12,080.73, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.94 points to 2,366.71, while the S&P 500 Index ended essentially flat, up just 0.01 of a point at 1,377.94.

For the month of October, the Dow Jones gained 3.4%, the Nasdaq moved up 4.8%, and the S&P500 gained 3.2%.