Toronto stocks surged at the close on Tuesday, as investors sought bargains and took confidence from strong U.S. economic data.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index finished 80.95 points higher at 7,663.40, and ending a six-day losing streak.

U.S. consumer confidence index fell in April to 108.8 from an upwardly revised 110.7 in March, the Conference Board reported. But economists had forecast the index would slip to 108.0 in April.

Overall 12 of the 14 TSE sub-indices closed higher, led by a 1.9% gain in financial services and a 1.6% gain for utilities.

Royal Bank closed up $1.30 to $54.97. RBC Insurance, the insurance arm of Royal Bank, announced it’s paying US$220 million US for two U.S. companies owned by Generali Group of Italy.

Bank of Montreal gained 97¢ to $37.68 and CIBC climbed $1 to $54.70.

The tech-heavy industrial products sector gained 1.1%, with Nortel closing up 5¢to $5.45, Celestica gaining 68¢ to $43.75 and Research In Motion adding 83¢ to $27.80.

Most of the TSE losses were focused in the gold sector down 2.4%, as investors abandoned its safe haven.

Biovail Corp. rose $2.29 to $59.89, reclaiming some of the 20% it lost on Monday on an analyst downgrade.

BCE shares advanced 69¢ to $27.55 after satellite subsidiary Telesat Canada boosted revenue by 10%.

Hudson’s Bay Co. gained 15¢ to $13.35.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. slid $1.22 to $21.82, while Placer Dome Inc. fell 94¢ to $18.65.

Toronto volume was 172.1 million sharesk as advancers beat decliners 627 to 482 with 189 unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 4.54 points to 1,158.45.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average rose 126.35 points to 9,946.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 30.97 points to 1,687.90. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 11.42 at 1,076.87.

A bigger-than-expected 0.5% jump in Canadian gross domestic product in February didn’t stop the Canadian dollar from falling US0.07¢to US63.76¢.