Toronto stocks closed higher Thursday, buoyed by news of weaker inflation in April. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 52.94 points to 6,779.34.

Before the market opened, Statistics Canada said the year-on-year inflation rate tumbled to 3% in April. The 3% rate was down from 4.3% in March.

A 2.5% climb by information technology stocks helped the market rally, while a 2.2% rise among telecoms offered good support.

Celestica ended the session up 60¢ at $18.64, while Nortel Networks rose 13¢ to $4.13.

A drop in the key financial services acted as a brake on the market. TD Bank closed 83¢ at $35.64 after reporting a second-quarter loss. CIBC, which kicked off earnings for the big banks on Wednesday, fell 95¢, or 1.9%, to $48.65.

Toronto volume was heavy as 253 million shares valued at $2.7 billion changed hands. Market momentum was positive as 651 issues advanced and 459 declined.

The TSX Venture Exchange rose 3.22 points to 1,081.63.

In New York, stocks rose on Thursday as investors pushed up tobacco shares a day after the industry won a major court victory.

Tobacco stocks rallied for a second day, helped by a series of bullish brokerage calls after a Florida appeals court on Wednesday issued a ruling favorable to the industry.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 77.59 points to 8,594.02. The S&P 500 added 8.45 points to 931.87. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite Index gained 17.68 points to 1,507.55.

The drop in inflation clipped the high-flying Canadian dollar. The loonie finished at US72.69¢, down sharply from US74.02¢ at Wednesday’s close.