Strength in banking shares and a positive earnings report from Canadian Pacific Railway helped send the Toronto stock market higher Tuesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 103.12 points, or 1.2%, to close at 8,759.63.

The industrials group rose 3% with shares in Canadian Pacific Railway $2.72 higher to $40.42 after the company said fourth-quarter profit slipped to $201 million from $342 million a year earlier.

Rival Canadian National Railways gained $1.71 to $43.62.

The financials group was ahead almost 4%.

Royal Bank of Canada shares gained $1.16 to $30.66, while Bank of Nova Scotia added $1.61 to $29.60.

The nergy sector slipped 1% as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell US$3.34 to US$42.39 a barrel.

Canadian Natural Resources declined $1.05 to $44.23, and Suncor Inc. fell 72¢ to $23.56.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite added 0.71 of a point, or 0.1%, to 867.87.

Ahead of the federal budget announcement, the Canadian dollar was down 0.14 cent to US81.55¢.

In New York, U.S. markets moved ahead but the gains were modest as investors were disappointed by dismal housing and consumer confidence data.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58.7 points, or 0.7%, to 8,174.73.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 15.44 points, or 1%, to 1,504.9 while the S&P 500 index added 9.14 points, 1.1%, to 845.71.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index tumbled by a record 18.2% from November 2007, the largest decline since its inception in 2000.

The U.S. Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index edged lower in January to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December. Economists had expected a reading of 39.

IE