Toronto stocks barely managed to hold onto gains on Monday afternoon as a tumble in gold prices pulled shares of mining companies lower.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished the day up 51.4 points, or 0.6%, at 9,285.51.

Gold for February delivery closed down US$21.70, or 2.5%, at US$857.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

This helped to drag down the materials group by 3.6%.

Shares of Goldcorp Inc. tumbled $3.35, or 8.8%, to close at $34.72 and Barrick Gold Corp. dropped $2.94, or 6.7%, to end at $40.78.

Also sharply lower was Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., down 5.3% to $58.96 and Kinross Gold Corp., down 7% to $20.97.

Shares of Yamana Gold Inc. slid 7.9% to $8.52.

Shares of Teck Cominco managed a boost of nearly 17% to close at $8.20.

Meanwhile, gains in oil futures supported growth for the heavyweight energy group, which rose 3.3% on Monday. Crude for February delivery rallied US$2.47, or 5.3%, to end at US$48.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Leading gains in the energy group was Suncor Energy Inc., up 6.1% to $27.40.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gained $3.11, or 6%, to $55.10 and EnCana Corp. jumped $2.67, or 4.5%, to $62.42.

Financial stocks rose by 1.7%.

This included a boost for shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank, which rose 2.8% to $45.33 after the bank announced plans to raise $225 million through the issue of 9 million new preferred shares.

National Bank of Canada also announced a share offering Monday, involving 5 million new preferred shares for gross proceeds of $125 million. Its shares finished at $32.15, up 1.6%.

Also higher in the financial group was Manulife Financial Corp. up 8.4% to $22.74 and TMX Group Inc., up 7.2% to $27.87.

Junior companies on the TSX Venture exchange advanced 27.80, or 3.3%, at 874.49.

The Canadian dollar jumped US1.77¢ to end at US84.03¢, even as the greenback gained ground against other international currencies.

South of the border, equities failed to hold onto brief midday gains and finished slightly lower for the day, following three consecutive days of gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 81.8 points, or 0.9%, to finish at 8,952.89

The Nasdaq composite index dipped 4.18 points, or 0.3%, to end at 1,628.03.

The S&P 500 slipped 4.35 points, or 0.5%, to close at 927.45.

Automakers’ shares displayed strength despite reporting dismal December sales.

Ford reported a 32% year-over-year drop in December sales. Its shares moved higher by 4.9% to $2.58 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares of General Motors Corp. gained 1.6% to $3.71 on the NYSE after it reported a 31% drop in sales for the month of December.