Toronto stocks finished essentially flat Monday, after spending much of the session in negative territory. A strong day in financials offset losses in the resource sectors, despite higher commodity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 1.11, or 0.01%, to 11,582.72, rebounding from an intra-day low of 11,464.55..

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, but the energy sector was off 0.82%.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery closed up 90¢ at US$61.45 a barrel, after falling earlier in the session.

EnCana Corp. lost 69¢, or 1.38%, to $49.34.

The materials sector was off 1.08%, while the gold sub-sector dipped 1.65%.

The benchmark December gold contract rose 50¢ to US$595.50 an ounce.

Glamis Gold lost 69¢, or 1.65%, to $41.19.

The financials sector moved up 1.09%. Manulife Financial gained 76¢ to $36.96.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.09 of a cent to US89.57¢.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index lost 56.34, or 2.27%, to 2,425.76.

In New York, markets rallied over optimism that any slowdown in the U.S. economy would not be as bad as has been feared.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 67.71 points to 11,575.81 and the Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 30.14 points at 2,249.07 while the S&P 500 Index finished up 11.59 points at 1,326.27, its highest close in five-and-a-half years.