Toronto stocks rallied Thursday, as report on U.S. inflation buoyed investors’ hopes for an early end to hikes in interest rates. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 175.50 points, or 1.62%, to 10.999.64.

Volume on the senior exchange was 331 million shares.

All 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, with the energy sector gaining 3.27%.

Light, sweet crude oil was up $1.15 to settle at US$58.47 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

EnCana Corp. gained 1.83, or 3.53%, to $53.60.

Suncor Energy Inc. said it will increase its capital spending to $3.5 billion for 2006, with most of the money being spent on its oilsands operations. Suncor rose $1.31, or 2.30%, to $58.20.

December gold rose $7.90 to close at US$502.50 an ounce on the Nymex, its highest close in 18 years.

Goldcorp Inc. was up 81¢, or 3.42%, to $24.51.

The financials sector ticked forward 0.28%

CIBC announced it is cutting 900 employees after posting a loss of $32 million for 2005. Its shares rose a penny, or 0.01%, to $75.20.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.16 of a cent to US85.86¢.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 22.36 points, or 1.09%, to 2,072.39.

In New York, markets soared as investors were cheered by positive economic data suggesting inflation might be in check.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 106.70, or 0.99%, to 10,912.57, The S&P500 index added 15.19, or 1.22%, to 1,264.67, and the Nasdaq composite index surged 34.35, or 1.54%, to 2,267.17.

Data released today showed consumer prices in October, excluding food and energy, rose by 1.8% year-over-year. That was the lowest 12-month rise in that measure in 20 months.

In other market news, Tim Hortons Inc., registered for an initial public offering of up to US$600 million in stock.