Higher commodity prices and an economic stimulus package unveiled in China helped stocks in Toronto kick off the week with a boost.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 92.59 points, or 0.96%, to close at 9,688.80 on Monday.

The materials group led gains in Toronto with a 3.56% increase, fuelled by a surge in gold futures. Gold for December delivery climbed US$12.30, or 1.7%, to close at US$746.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The sub-gold index soared 6%.

Within the materials group, Goldcorp Inc. shares rose 5.4% to close at $27.55 and Barrick Gold Corp. shares gained 6% to finish at $29.85.

Crude for December delivery rose US$1.37, or 2.2%, to close at US$62.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following a volatile trading day in which it briefly fell below US$60 per barrel.

Rising oil prices helped pull up energy companies on the TSX by 2.67%. Shares of Suncor Energy Inc. rose 6.2% to $27.08, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s stock gained 4.94% to $47.98.

Energy company Nexen Inc.’s shares rose 3.1% to $19.48.

The financials group on the TSX featured a combination of gains and losses, and finished the day down 0.1% overall.

In positive territory was Manulife Financial Corp., up 2.5% to $26.65, and ING Canada Inc., up 1.5% to $33.23.

Other financial companies moved lower, including Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., down $4.95, or 1.5%, to $322.00, and Onex Corp., down $1.09, or 5.13%, to $20.16.

A plunge for shares of Nortel Networks Corp. pulled the TSX information technology group down 2.9%. Nortel’s stock plunged 25.5% to an all-time low of $1.11 after the company announced it would cut 1,300 jobs amid worsening economic conditions and reported a quarterly net loss of US$3.41 billion.

Shares of CGI Group Inc. gained 0.96% to close at $9.50 after the company reported quarterly earnings from continuing operations of $75.2 million, up 15.6% from a year ago.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. reported its third quarter profit fell 28% to $54.7 million from $76.1 million in the same period of 2007, due to higher fuel costs and slower demand. Its stock fell 4.88% to $10.13.

There were also declines for junior companies in Toronto. The S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 7.86 points, or 0.85% to 914.02.

The Canadian dollar moved lower against the U.S. dollar by more than half a cent, to end the day at US83.58¢.

The day started off with gains for U.S. markets, but weak corporate earnings reports and ongoing economic concerns pushed the main indexes into the red.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 8,870.54, down 73.27 points, or 0.8%.

This included a 22.9% plunge for shares of General Motors Corp., which closed at US$3.36 on the New York Stock Exchange. The drop followed comments from a Deutsche Bank analyst that GM would likely go bankrupt without a government rescue plan.

The S&P 500 index shed 11.78 points, or 1.3%, to end at 919.21. The Nasdaq composite index closed at 1,616.74, down 30.66 points, or 1.9%.