Toronto stocks got a boost from energy and gold issues Wednesday. The S&P/TSX composite index powered ahead 65.78 points or 0.77% at 8,788.11 on volume of 252 million shares.

Eight of the 10 TSX sectors rose, led by a 2.4% jump in energy and a 1.4% rise in industrials.

Energy stocks popped as crude-oil futures surged above US$55 a barrel before closing just short of the mark and a new record. The November crude contract ended up US$1.63 for the session, at US$54.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange

In Toronto, Canadian Natural Resources was up 1.85¢, or 3.7%, to $51.86, while Suncor jumped $1.20, or 2.85%, to $43.13.

The materials group was ahead 1.54% as gold stocks soared 3.13%.

Kinross Gold advanced 35¢, or 4.07%, to $8.95, and Barrick Gold added 69¢, or 2.65%, to $26.76.

In the industrials group, Bombardier jumped 14¢, or 5.20%, to $2.83 on volume of 4.6 million shares.

Only the two groups of consumer stocks closed lower.

Soft-drink bottler Cott tumbled $3.64, or 11%, to $30.18 after reporting a drop in third-quarter earnings and lowering its forecast for 2004.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 12.91 points or 0.78% to 1,663.17.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.74 of a cent to close at US80.29¢ Wednesday. It hasn’t closed that high since March 26, 1993.
The rise in the dollar came a day after the Bank of Canada boosted its key overnight rate by 0.25 of a percentage point to 2.50%.

In New York, U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as a fresh spike in crude-oil prices and a host of disappointing earnings reports led by JP Morgan and Motorola prompted concern about the future pace of economic growth.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average fell 10.69points or 0.11% at 9,886.93.

JP Morgan fell 1.9% in the wake of its lackluster third quarter performance.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 10.07 or 0.52% at 1,932.97. The broader S&P 500 edged up 0.43 of a point at 1,003.66.