Toronto stocks finished higher Tuesday, as the market was buoyed by strong performances in the telecommunications sector, as well as the energy and materials indexes.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 76.69, or 0.65%, to 11,907.65.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up.

The materials index gained 1.00%, with the gold sub- sector lifting 3.14%. The October gold contract gained $12 at US$652.40 an ounce.

Bema Gold Corp. fell 29¢, or 4.50%, to $6.74.

The energy sector shot up 0.89%. Light sweet crude for September delivery was up 51¢ to US$74.91 US a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Canadian Natural Resources lifted 99¢, or 1.65%, to $61.09.

Although information technology lost 0.86%, telecommunications services gained 2.36%.

Rogers Communications reported second-quarter earnings of $277.5 million, up from $19.2 million a year ago. Rogers gained $4.09, or 8.46%, to $52.44.

The Canadian dollar settled at US88.44¢, up 0.07 cent.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index lifted 13.35, or 0.51%, to 2,627.12.

In New York, investor pessimism over the U.S. economy coupled with inflation fears fuelled a downturn.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average closed down 59.95 points to 11,125.73. The Nasdaq composite index lost 29.48 to 2,061.99 and the S&P 500 was down 5.74 at 1,270.92.