The benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange posted a slight gain after a volatile session on Monday.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 28.54 points, or 0.33%, at 8,656.51, after falling 1.2% earlier in the session.

The TSX financial sector climbed 1.2% after UK bank Barclays announced it had made a good profit for 2008 and that it did not need any cash bailouts to stay in business.

Royal Bank of Canada advanced $1.42 to $29.50 while CIBC shares were 11¢ lower to $43.89 after the bank announced it is raising $200 million through a preferred share offering.

However, gold producers down 3%, with Barrick Gold Corp. down 4.7% and Goldcorp Inc. down 2.3% despite a rise in the price of gold to US$908.80 an ounce, up US$13.

The TSX energy group fell 1% as crude for February delivery ended down 74¢, or 1.6%, to US$45.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Canadian Oil Sands Trust fell 92¢ cents to $17.48 but EnCana Corp. advanced 56¢ to $55.06.

Among individual stocks, Sherritt International Corp. fell 14% after Cuba’s state oil company announced it was ending an oil producing contract with Sherritt, which derives 26% of its oil production from Cuba.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index climbed 7.47 points, or 0.87%, to close at 867.16.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.27¢ of cent to finish at US81.69¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks posted modest gains optimism over a giant takeover in the drug industry that offset a grim warning about the year ahead from Caterpillar and worries over the state of the financial sector.

Pfizer Inc, the world’s biggest drug maker, said it would buy rival Wyeth for about US$68 billion.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar said its 2009 profit would drop significantly from 2008 and announced plans to nearly 20,000 jobs.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.47 points, or 0.48%, to 8,116.03. The S&P 500 added 4.62 points, or 0.56%, to 836.57. The Nasdaq composite index gained 12.17 points, or 0.82%, to 1,489.46.

There was also good news about the U.S. housing market. Sales of existing homes rose 6.5% in December to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.74 million as prices continued to plunge.

IE