Toronto stocks closed higher for a sixth straight session on Tuesday with energy shares driven higher by the rising price of oil.

The S&P/TSX composite index rallied 172.89 points, or 2.06%, to close at 8,559.60.

The heavyweight energy group rose 4% as the price of oil rose over US$2 a barrel.

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources climbed 4.89% to close at $50.02, while EnCana Corp. shares rose 2.9% to $51.50.

Financial stocks performed well, with Bank of Montreal up 2.6%, Toronto-Dominion Bank up 2.9% and Manulife Financial Corp. up 2.3%.

Research In Motion Ltd. climbed technology shares rallied in New York. RIM shares in Toronto rose 6.4%.

The only blemish on today’s rally was in gold stocks.. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 2.6% and Goldcorp Inc. fell 2.3%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 5.80 points, or 0.68%, to finish at 853.12.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.29 of cent to close at US78.81¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks surged on optimism unexpected leap in housing starts. Government data showed housing starts rose 22.2% in February.

Bullish comments from Goldman Sachs on Cisco Systems helped technology shares rebound.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 178.73 points, or 2.48%, to 7,395.70. The S&P rose 24.23 points, or 3.21%, to 778.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 58.09 points, or 4.14%, to 1,462.11.

IE