Toronto stocks closed higher Monday on the strength of a strong resource sector, particularly surging gold prices. The S&P/TSX composite index finished up 49.85, or 0.51%, to close at 9,839.94, with volume of 213 million shares.

Eight of the 10 TSX main groups were up on the day, with the energy sector gaining 0.95% and the materials sector gaining 1.46%. Telecommunications was off 1%.

The price of an ounce of gold rose $1.80, or 0.42%, to finish at US$431.10 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the TSX, goldminer Placer Dome Inc. was up 51¢, or 2.81%, to $18.64, while Goldcorp Inc. finished up 17¢, or 0.93%, to $18.43.

Light crude for July delivery moved up $2.08 to end at US$55.62 a barrel.

Cineplex Galaxy LP announced it’s purchasing the Famous Players chain from New York-based Viacom Inc. for $500 million.

Shares in Onex Corp., Cineplex’s largest unitholder and controlling partner, closed down 10¢, or 5.2%, to $19.05.

Sears Canada Inc. jumped $2.35, or 11.37%, to close at $23.01 after the retailer said it’s putting its credit and financial services division up for sale.

Nortel Networks lifted 3¢, up 0.93%, to finish $3.26, reclaiming a little of the ground it lost Friday when it announced the surprise resignations of two of its senior management.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 10.94, or 0.66%, to close at 1,675.70.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.40 of a cent to close at US79.62¢ as the greenback gained against world currencies.

In New York, markets closed marginally higher as investors hoped economic data coming out this week will influence the U.S. Federal Reserve to end its run of interest rate hikes.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average finished up 9.93, or 0.09%, to 10,522.56, the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 5.96, or 0.29%, to close at 2,068.96, and the broad based S&P 500 ticked up 2.71, or 0.23%, to 1,200.82.