The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market racked up a solid gain Monday in a commodities-stock led advance as oil and metals advanced amid a lower U.S. dollar, better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data and more signs of strong growth in Asia.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 104.58 points to 11,512.26, on top of last week’s 1.39% gain.

A big rebound in auto sales was largely responsible for U.S. retail sales rising 1.4% in October, an improvement from the 0.8% gain economists expected.

But excluding auto sales, retail demand rose 0.2%, half of the expected 0.4% rise.

“The report provided further evidence to show that U.S. consumer spending is slowly getting back on track heading into the crucial holiday shopping season,” said TD Securities Economics strategist Millan Mulraine.

“Nevertheless, with the labour market remaining quite weak, we expect the pick-up in spending to remain relatively slow.”

The Canadian dollar was up 0.31 cent to US95.5¢ as Statistics Canada reported that a strong showing in the automobile industry also sent Canadian manufacturing sales up 1.4% in September to $41.7 billion.

That was better than the 0.4% rise economists were expecting. But excluding motor vehicles, parts and accessories, manufacturing sales were down 0.4% for the month.

Commodity prices ran up as the retail report raised optimism about an American economic rebound.

Commodities were also helped along by other data which showed the Japanese economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.8% in the third quarter. That was the second straight quarter of expansion and the biggest rise since 2007.

Encouragingly, much of the growth in Japan was due to a rise in consumer spending as opposed to exports.

The energy sector rose 1.37% as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up $2.55 to US$78.90 a barrel after Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its forecast for the average price of crude next year to US$85 a barrel from US$75. Suncor Inc. (TSX:SU) improved $1.15 to C$38.04 on the TSX and Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) climbed $2.31 to $72.49.

U.S. dollar weakness helped send metal prices higher with the December bullion contract in New York up $22.50 to a record high close of US$1,139.20 an ounce, taking the gold sector up 2.3%. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) rose $1.05 to C$46.15 and Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) gained 45¢ to $20.68.

The base metals sector advanced 4.1% with December copper up 13.1¢ to US$3.10 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) climbed $1.48 to $34.96 and FNX Mining (TSX:FNX) moved ahead 89¢ to $11.79.

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 18.04 points to 1,377.94.

The retail sales data sent the Dow Jones industrial average up 136.49 points to 10,406.96.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 29.97 points to 2,197.85 while the S&P 500 index edged up 15.82 points to 1,109.3.

In corporate news, General Motors Co. said it lost US$1.2 billion in the period since emerging from bankruptcy protection in July and the end of the third quarter on Sept. 30. Despite the loss, GM said it will begin to repay $6.7 billion in Canadian and U.S. government loans and was seeing a stabilization in its business.

Profit fell 30% at U.S. home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. in the third quarter as customers continued to delay large purchases amid a weak economy. Profit in the quarter was US$344 million, down from $488 million a year ago. Revenue edged down 3% while sales in stores open at least one year fell 7.5%. Lowe’s shares declined 11¢ to US$21.74.

Aecon Group Inc. (TSX:ARE), a major construction services company based in Toronto, said its industrial division had been awarded a contract to complete field construction of Suncor Energy’s (TSX:SU) Firebag 3 plant facilities. Suncor’s Firebag project was half complete when it was deferred earlier this year. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Aecon shares ran up 36¢ to $13.54.

Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) said Monday it will acquire Canplats Resources Corp. (TSXV:CPQ) in all-stock deal valued at $238 million. Goldcorp shares gained 50¢ to $46.75 while Canplats shares soared 96¢ or 37.65% to $3.51.

Shares in media giant Canwest Global started trading on the Venture Exchange Monday. Its subordinate voting shares (TSXV:CGS) were down 1.5¢ to 55¢ while its non-voting shares (TSXV:CGS.A) fell 2¢ to 8¢.

UTS Energy Corp. (TSX:UTS) shares added 4¢ to $2.17 after its chief executive officer said he expects the Fort Hills oilsands project to start production in late 2015 at the earliest. UTS has a 20% stake in the oilsands venture.

@page_break@Miner Uranium One Inc. (TSX:UUU) said the Kazakhstani Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had approved the Vancouver company’s purchase of a 50% stake in the Karatau uranium mine in the central Asia country. The company’s shares were up 19¢ to $3.56.