Canadian Press

Financial and energy stocks helped push the Toronto stock market slightly higher Monday.

The rise followed a three-session losing streak brought on by Chinese moves to slow bank lending, proposals to curb risk-taking by U.S. banks and doubt over whether U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke would be appointed to another term.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 11.08 points to 11,354.51, after tumbling almost 3% last week.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 94.51¢ US.

There is still lots of uncertainty about President Barack Obama’s plans to tighten regulation over the U.S. banking sector. And China’s moves to raise banks’ reserve requirements in a move to curb lending continued to depress mining stocks.

But investors felt better about Bernanke’s reappointment Monday after two key Democratic senators said they would support giving him another four-year term. Presidential adviser David Axelrod added that Bernanke has enough votes to win reappointment.

The steep losses last week and the lack of strong buying enthusiasm Monday made investors wonder if a correction was taking hold after a strong run of gains going back to early March 2009.

“It tells me the correction (that started last week) is not over,” said Paul Thornton of Investor Boot Camp Online.

“When we look at some of the individual stocks, key stocks in the market, many of them are going lower. So the correction is not over and it almost looks like any attempts at a rally are going to get sold into. Which isn’t great.”

The tech sector was the leading component, up about 1% ahead of earnings coming out after the close from Apple Inc.

Celestica Inc. (TSX:CLS) was up 23¢ to $9.86 ahead of earnings coming out Wednesday.

The energy sector rose 0.57% as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 72¢ to US$75.26 a barrel after sliding about 4% last week as China’s credit-tightening moves raised demand concerns. Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSX:COS.UN) advanced 26¢ to C$28.59.

The proposed new banking regulations punished bank stocks around the world and pushed the TSX financial index down about 3.2% last week. But the sector revived somewhat Monday, rising 0.47%.

“The banks have so much pricing power that they will earn their way through,” said Jennifer Radman, associate portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.

“They’ve certainly earned their way through most of their credit losses and those aren’t going to be as scary as people once thought they might be. They’ll be all right.”

Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) gained 48¢ to $45.08 while TD Bank (TSX:TD) climbed 71¢ to $62.46.

The base metals sector moved down 0.6% on top of last week’s slide of about 6% as China’s move last week raised concerns about economic growth in that country — and demand for commodities. The March contract for copper rose 5¢ to US$3.39 and Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) climbed 37¢ to C$39.14 but Labrador Iron Mines Holdings (TSX:LIM) fell 85¢ to $5.60.

The gold sector dipped 1.38% even as the February gold contract on the Nymex gained $6 to US$1,096.50 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) faded 59¢ to C$38.07.

The TSX Venture Exchange was off 2.82 points to 1,546.85.

New York indexes eked out a small gain amid data showing that sales of previously occupied homes took the largest monthly drop in more than 40 years last month, plunging far deeper than expected after legislators gave buyers extended time to use a tax credit.

The U.S. National Association of Realtors said sales fell 16.7% in December against expectations of a 10% drop.

The Dow Jones industrial average moved 23.88 points higher to 10,196.86 after falling just over 4% last week. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 5.51 points to 2,210.8 while the S&P 500 index gained 5.02 points to 1,096.78.

Corporate earnings will be front and centre this week with dozens of reports from nearly all sectors scheduled for release, including Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Amazon Inc. and AT&T Inc.

The earnings season also gains momentum in Canada where market heavyweights such as grocer Metro Inc. (TSX:MRU.A), Canadian National Railways (TSX:CNR), Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP) and Potash Corp. (TSX:POT) deliver earnings this week.

In corporate news, Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (TSX:KFS) has agreed to sell its shares of Jevco Insurance Co. to Westaim Corp. (TSX:WED) of Toronto in a proposed deal worth about $263 million. Kingsway shares jumped 33¢ or 21.7% to $1.85 while Westaim jumped 7.5¢ or 17.24% to 51¢.

@page_break@The Toronto Stock Exchange said it was reviewing the shares of Montreal-based toy maker Mega Brands (TSX:MB) for possible delisting, and the company had 120 days to regain compliance with listing requirements. Mega Brands is in the midst of a recapitalization plan that eliminates nearly $300 million of debt. Its shares lost 4¢ to 62¢.

DualEx Energy International Inc. (TSXV:DXE) stock lost more than half its value Monday after the company announced it would abandon its Al Tayr 101 well in Syria after an unsuccessful testing program. The stock fell 23¢ or 54.12% to 19.5¢ with almost four million shares traded on the TSX Venture Exchange.