Toronto stocks were up Wednesday on the strength of the industrials and materials sectors. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 66.40, or 0.65%, to close 10,329.64.

Volume on the senior exchange was 240 million shares.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up on the day, with industrials gaining an impressive 2.23% and materials up 1.68%.

Canadian National rose $4.90, or 6.66%, to close $78.50, while Bombardier Inc. fell 11¢, or 3.25%, to close $3.27.

Alcan Inc. was up $1.02, or 2.56%, to $40.92.

A barrel of light crude settled 74¢ to finish at US$56.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The heavily weighted financials sector advanced 0.54%

Wealth management company CI Financial announced its profits rose 7% in the fourth quarter to $80.8 million, from $75.4 million a year earlier. The firm also said its would increase its cash dividend by 20%. Shares rose 7¢, or 0.35%, to $19.87.

CIBC confirmed it will pay a total of $125 million US to settle accusations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General’s Office that through two of its U.S.-based subsidiaries it provided financing to hedge fund clients who engaged market timing. CIBC shares advanced by 23¢, or 0.30%, to $77.79.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index climbed 17.37, or 1.01%, to 1,745.39.

On Wall Street, investors were cheered by positive comments on the strength of the economy delivered by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to the US. Congress.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 42.59, or 0.40%, to 10,689.15; the tech heavy Nasdaq lifted 15.39, or 0.71%, to 2,188.57 and the broad based S&P 500 index advanced 5.85, or 0.48%, to 1,235.57.

EBay Inc. reported quarterly net profit rose 53%, beating analysts’ targets, and raised its forecast for revenue and net profit in the current quarter. Shares in after-hours trading on the Inet electronic brokerage network lifted 10.3% to $38.45 US.