Toronto stocks surged ahead Tuesday as a rally in oil prices boosted energy shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 161.12 points, or 1.41%, at 11,585.73.

Seven of the 10 TSX sectors ended higher, with industrials, information technology and healthcare the only sectors ending in lower territory.

The energy sector gained 1.93%, as the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.84 to US$71.55 a barrel.

In Toronto, Canadian Natural Resources rose 3.7% to $76.64, while Suncor Energy was up 2% at $39.40.

The materials sector, home to gold-mining shares, climbed as gold rose to US$1015.50 an ounce, up US$10.60, just a day after briefly falling below the US$1,000 mark.

Barrick Gold Corp gained 2.4% to $40.25, while Goldcorp jumped 1.8% to $44.82.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 16.63 points, or 1.31%, to finish at 1,281.63.

The Canadian dollar gained almost three-quarters of a cent to close at US93.54¢, shrugging off data that showed Canadian retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.6% in July from June after two months of robust gains.

In New York, U.S. stocks advanced rose despite disappointing housing data.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that house prices rose 0.3% in July from the prior month, but June’s price increase was revised down to 0.1% from 0.5%.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 51.01 points, or 0.52%, to 9,829.87.

The Nasdaq composite index advanced 8.26 points, or 0.39%, to 2,146.3, while the S&P 500 index was ahead 7 points, or 0.66%, to 1,071.66.

IE