Toronto stocks posted strong gains for a second day in a row on Thursday, on stronger commodity prices and news of a partnership between EnCana Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 131.88 points, or 1.1%, to at close at 11,750.00.

Overall, eight of the 10 TSX groups were up.

Energy shares led the climb, gaining 3% as the price of oil came back up to the US$60 mark after OPEC officials said the group would cut output by 1 million barrels a day as soon as possible.

November crude rose 62¢, or 1%, to US$60.03 a barrel.

EnCana and ConocoPhillips announced they will spend up to $15 billion over the next 10 years to increase EnCana’s output in Canada’s oil sands region.

EnCana was up $1.75, or 3.5%, at $51.70.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gained $1.74, or 3.63%, to close at $49.68.

Life sciences company MDS Inc. announced plans to sell its laboratory services division for $1.33 billion to a unit of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension fund. MDS shares climbed $1.38 to $20.13.

Shares in Research in Motion Ltd. rose $1.71 to $123.89. Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-chief executive is expected to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL hockey team for roughly US$175 million.

Tim Hortons Inc. shares rose 79 cents¢ to $30.06 as the coffee shop chain reported July-September sales in its 2,625-outlet Canadian operation were up 5.9% at locations open a year or more.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index jumped up 47.06 points to 2,369.54.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.08 cent at US88.84¢ as Statistics Canada reported the value of building permits surged to its second-highest level on record in August. Municipalities issued $5.8 billion worth of permits, up 8.3% from July.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose on with the Dow Jones industrial average hitting fresh all-time closing and intraday highs.

The Dow was up 16.08 points, or 0.14%, to end y at 11,866.69. The S&P 500 was up 3.00 points, or 0.22%, to finish at 1,353.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 15.39 points, or 0.67%, to close at 2,306.34.