Toronto stocks ended a five-day losing streak on Wednesday, led by surging gold stocks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed up 77.95 points at 7,800.06.

closing higher as tensions in the Middle East boosted the gold sector while bank issues played a strong supporting role

Overall, 12 of the TSE 300’s 14 sub-indexes closed higher, led by a 3.7% jump in gold stocks and a 2% rise in the financial services sub-index.

Placer Dome Inc. climbed 89 ¢ to $18.73, while Goldcorp advanced $1.31, or 5%, to $27.11.


The tech-heavy industrial products sector slipped 0.68%, led down by Research In Motion, which warned Tuesday that its results going forward would be weaker than previously expected.

Shares of RIM closed down $5 at C$32.20, leading all net losers for the session.

Bank stocks enjoyed a strong session Wednesday. Royal Bank climbed $1.75 to $55.95, while Bank of Nova Scotia rose $1.40 to $54.55.

Market momentum was positive as 619 issues advanced and 492 declined. Volume was 184.8 million shares.

Venture capital stocks also advanced Wednesday. The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed up 3.59 points at 1,165.70. Trading was heavy on a volume of 38 million shares, with 227 advances, 213 declines and 615 issues unchanged.

On Wall Street, the major averages closed near their session highs, following encouraging earnings news from the financial and media sectors and positive comments from analysts on tech bellwether Cisco.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of 173.06 points, or 1.7%, to 10,381.73. The Nasdaq composite index rose 24.50 points, or 1.4%, to 1767.07, and the S&P 500 was up 12.67 points, or 1.1%, to 1,130.47.

The Canadian dollar rose US0.19¢ to US62.82¢.