Source: The Canadian Press

The energy sector led the way to a strong advance on the Toronto stock market on Monday as massive political unrest in Egypt raised worries about a disruption in oil supplies and pushed crude prices higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 114.41 points to 13,551.99 while the TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.23 points to 2,274.57.

The Canadian dollar lost early momentum and moved lower against the greenback as investors sought safety in the U.S. dollar along with commodities such as oil.

For the second day in a row and the second time this year, the loonie closed below parity with the U.S. dollar.

The loonie closed down 0.04 of a cent to 99.85 cents US after going as high as 100.37 cents US in the wake of data from Statistics Canada showing that gross domestic product grew 0.4% in November, better than the 0.3% reading that economists had expected.

As protests continued against the rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange move up $2.85 to US$92.19 a barrel, its highest close since early October, 2008.

Crude has surged almost eight per cent over the last two sessions on worries that the Suez Canal, a key route for oil tankers and cargo ships, may be closed and that the unrest could spread.

“The market doesn’t know quite what to make of it,” said John Stephenson, portfolio manager at First Asset Funds.

“I think energy and financials are moving higher (because) Canada is a safe haven and commodities is a store of value. If there’s some problem with oil, it may be good for Canadian producers, Canada’s stock index but it’s not good for the U.S. economy broadly.”

The energy sector rose 2.74% as Cenovus Energy shares gained $1.24 to C$34.60 while Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) climbed $1.42 to $41.46.

Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO) reported that its net income increased 50% in the fourth quarter to $799 million, or 94 cents per share. That’s up from $534 million, or 64 cents per share, a year earlier on higher oil prices and improved operations and Imperial shares rose $1.95 to $44.65.

The base metals sector was ahead almost two per cent as copper prices advanced with the March contract on the Nymex up nine cents at US$4.47 a pound. Equinox Minerals (TSX:EQN) added 13 cents to C$5.98 .

Workers at Teck Coal Ltd.’s Elkview operations in southeastern British Columbia are on strike. The more than 700 members of United Steelworkers Local 9346 walked out Sunday at the open pit mine, operated by a subsidiary of Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B). Teck shares gained $2.79 to $60.65.

The gold sector was the weakest group as bullion prices backed off after rising almost US$22 on Friday as traders looked for a safe haven going into the weekend. On Monday, the April bullion contract on the Nymex declined $7.20 to US$1,334.50 an ounce and Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) faded 65 cents to C$40.19 while Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) lost 35 cents to $16.64.

Financials also helped send the TSX higher with TD Bank (TSX:TD) ahead 48 cents at $74.96. Sun Life Financial (TSX:SLF) climbed 30 cents to $31.51.

New York markets were also higher amid a strong earnings report from energy giant ExxonMobil.

The company reported quarterly earnings jumped 53% from a year ago to US$9.25 billion, or US$1.85 a share, much higher than analyst estimates of US$1.63 a share. Revenues came in at US$105.2 billion against estimates of US$99.11 billion and its shares were up $1.69 to US$80.68 in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 68.23 points to 11,891.93.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 13.19 points at 2,700.08 while the S&P 500 index climbed 9.78 points to 1,286.12.

Investors were also pleased with data showing that U.S. consumer spending rose 0.7% in December, the sixth straight monthly increase. The Commerce Department also reported that households saw their incomes rise 0.4%, the same as November.

For all of 2010, consumers boosted spending 3.5%. That was the best performance since a 5.2 percent rise in 2007, before the recession began.

In other corporate news, shares in chip giant Intel were unchanged at US$21.46 after the company said a design flaw had been found in a chip accompanying its recently released “Sandy Bridge” line of PC processors and that lost sales and repair and replacement remedies would cost it US$1 billion.

TSX market heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) weighed on the TSX. Its shares lost $1.17 to $58.99 after India’s home minister said his country will still insist that RIM give it a solution to access corporate email services.

The BlackBerry maker said this month it had given India the means to access its Messenger service ahead of a Jan. 31 target date but reiterated that no changes could be made to allow monitoring of secure corporate emails.

Canadian oil company Sea Dragon Energy Inc. (TSXV:SDX) says anti-government protests rocking Egypt have so far had very little effect on its field operations in the country.

In an update aimed at reassuring shareholders, the Calgary-based company said the protests are centred in major cities and “therefore have little or no impact on the company’s field operations in Kom Ombo and northwest Gemsa” in the desert. Sea Dragon shares shook off early steep losses, closing up a penny to 24 cents on very heavy volume of 27 million shares.

Methanex Corp. (TSX:MX) said Monday that the commissioning of its new 1.3-million-tonne-per-year methanol facility in Egypt is on schedule despite growing anti-government protests in the country. Its shares slipped 46 cents to $27.22.