Despite slipping into the red several times during Tuesday’s trading session, the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange managed to finish the day with modest gains.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 9,880.72, up 10.35 points, or 0.1%.

Financial stocks advanced 1.7% on Tuesday.

Shares of Bank of Montreal jumped $1.77, or 4.3%, to $42.76 and Bank of Nova Scotia shares rose 2.3% to $36.30.

Other gainers included CIBC, up 2.6% to $57.47 and Great-West Lifeco Inc., higher by $1.47, or 7%, to end at $22.45.

The heavyweight energy group fell 1.5% on Tuesday, dragged down by a dip in oil futures. Crude for June delivery ended down US$0.63, or 1.2%, at US$53.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of Imperial Oil Ltd. dropped $1.80, or 4.2%, to $41.17 and Petro-Canada fell 1.9% to $40.21.

Also lower was EnCana Corp., down 1.6% to $59.02, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., down 1.7% to $59.85.

In other commodity trading, gold for June delivery climbed US$2.10, or 0.2%, to end at US$904.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Despite the increase, the sub-gold index slipped 0.3% and the materials group fell 0.6%.

Inmet Mining Corp.’s stock tumbled $2.41, or 4.8%, to $47.89 and Goldcorp Inc. slipped 1.5% to $33.83.

Agrium Inc. shares fell $1.61, or 2.9%, to $53.67.

Higher for the day was Barrick Gold Corp., up 2% to $37.18.

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. saw its shares surge 7.6% after the company reported a 73% increase in first-quarter profit to $109 million. Loblaw’s stock advanced $2.48 to $35.31.

Shares of WestJet Airlines Ltd. rose 7% to $13.35 after announcing a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter earnings to $37.4 million, down 29% from a year ago.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. said its first-quarter profit plummeted by more than half to US$93 million. Still, Brookfield units advanced 1.2% to $18.37.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index edged up 3.17 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,030.36.

The Canadian dollar slipped US0.19¢, but maintained its hold above the US85¢ mark, to close at US85.03¢.

Meanwhile, the main stock market indexes in New York finished lower on Tuesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Ben Bernanke warned that economic recovery would be slow to kick in.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 16.09 points, or 0.2%, at 8,410.65.

The S&P 500 index finished down 3.44 points, or 0.4%, at 903.80.

The Nasdaq composite index slipped 9.44 points, or 0.5%, to end at 1,754.12.

IE