Toronto stocks closed higher as investors mulled over some reassuring economic news. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 41.21 points to finish at 7,180.27.

Advances in the energy and financial sectors helped propel the TSX benchmark.

The energy sector advanced 1.5% as the price of crude oil moved 69¢ higher to US$32.39 US a barrel and natural gas rose 34¢ to $5.08 per million British thermal units on supply concerns.

EnCana climbed $1.45 to $50.66 and Talisman added 84¢ to $61.33.

Auto parts giant Magna International climbed $1.50 to $104.85 after a three-month profit of US$174 million, up from US$159 million.

Heavily weighted financial sector was positive, with Sun Life Financial ahead 56¢ at $29.70 and Royal Bank adding $1.15 to $58.65.

Active stocks included Bombardier, ahead 11¢ at $4.84, and Nortel Networks, up 10¢ at $4.10.

TSX volume was 181.3 million shares worth $2.2 billion. Advances outweighed declines 581 to 515 with 216 unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange closed up 4.95 points to 1,219.60.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 64.71 points at 9,126.45. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.47 point to 1,652.21 — its fifth straight decline. The S&P 500 added 7.04 to 974.12

The latest U.S. jobless claims report raised hopes that the worst of a long string of layoffs is over. New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a six-month low of 390,000 last week.

Also, American employee productivity grew at an annualized rate of 5.7% in the April-June quarter.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar gained more than half a cent.

The loonie finished the day up 0.56 cent at US71.80¢ with investors looking to the unemployment report Friday for an indication of how the Bank of Canada will move on interest rates in the near future.