Surging commodity stocks sent the Toronto stock market to less than 20 points away from its all time record closing high on Thursday.

The S&P/TSX composite index soared 236.46 points, or 1.65%, to close at 14,607.99, approaching the high of 14,625.76 from late last July.

U.S. crude for June delivery settled at $123.69 a barrel, up 16 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After the Nymex regular session ended, U.S. crude extended gains and rose to a record $124.61 a barrel.

The energy sector was up almost 3% as the June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 16¢ to a record close of US$123.69 a barrel.

EnCana Corp. added $2.91 to $87.48 and Canadian Natural Resources climbed $4.19 to $96 after hitting an all time high of $96.29.

Gold prices headed up with the June bullion contract in New York ahead $10.90 to US$882.10 an ounce on a weakening U.S. dollar, taking the TSX gold sector ahead 5.6%. Barrick Gold Corp. was up $1.81 to $41.

The financial sector was down about 0.75%, largely due to the latest earnings report from Manulife Financial. Its shares fell $1.97 to $36.90 after the company reported profit of $869 million, down from a year-ago $986 million as sliding equity markets took an estimated $265-million bite out of earnings.


Among individual stocks Onex Corp. was off 8¢ to $32.54 as it booked a 13% rise in first-quarter revenue to $6.23 billion but net earnings declined to $45 million.

Telus Corp. shares rose $1.80 to $47.40 after it reported a 49% increase in first-quarter net income to $291 million as revenue grew 6.6% over a year earlier to $2.35 billion.

Air Canada climbed 15 cents to $8.20 after a first-quarter net loss of $288 million, including a $125-million provision for cargo price-fixing investigations and $89 million in currency setbacks.

Biovail Corp. moved up 68¢ to $12.52 after the drug company unveiled a new strategic plan to focus on central nervous system disorders, close its Puerto Rico operations and sell non-core assets. Biovail also reported first-quarter profit moved down to $56.4 million from $93.8 million a year ago.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 34.87 points, or 1.39%, to 2,539.45.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.98 of a cent to US98.32¢ as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts dropped to 213,900 units in April from 243,000 in March.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose as a surge in global commodity prices propelled mining and energy shares higher. Technology shares also exerted a major positive influence after a Merrill Lynch strategist said they were a good value.

On the downside, financial issues fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 52.43 points, or 0.41%, at 12,866.78. The S&P 500 ended up 5.11 points, or 0.37%, at 1,397.68. The Nasdaq composite index gained 12.75 points, or 0.52%, to close at 2,451.24.