TORONTO - The Toronto stock market jumped more than 100 points Monday, in large part because energy stocks ran ahead amid oil prices again reaching almost US$100 a barrel.
Also helping the TSX -- and boosting New York markets sharply -- was news that Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings for Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc.
That raised hopes that troubled bond insurers will emerge from the credit market crisis on solid footing.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index gained 111.52 points to 13,697.45 leaving the TSX just 136 points away from where it started the year.
The TSX has been on a roll since the most recent lows from Jan. 31, in a rally led mainly by commodity stocks.
"For a while, there was a great fear of how much would the world slow and I think now it's -- this may be a pause but it's not going to be a real slowdown,'' said Kate Warne, Canadian market specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
"I'm not sure either extreme is correct but we've gone from great fears to lack of concern and I would say we'll probably go back to fear at some point.''
The TSX Venture Exchange headed 29.09 points higher to 2,686.24.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrials moved up 189.2 points to 12,570.22. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 24.13 points to 2,327.48 and the S&P 500 index edged 18.69 points higher to 1,371.8.
There has been speculation that Ambac might find sufficient capital early this week to hold onto the "AAA'' rating it needs to remain in the municipal bond business.
Rating agencies including S&P have been under pressure to downgrade the insurers, particularly Ambac, after they had weakened their financial positions by insuring subprime mortgage securities that later collapsed.
The Canadian dollar bounded ahead, gaining 1.67 cents to 100.48 cents US and leaving analysts a bit puzzled.
"It's kind of strange. There really isn't a lot of news that's come out to cause this rally,'' said George Davis, chief technical analyst at RBC Capital Markets, who noted the loonie also gained against other currencies, particularly the euro and yen, in overnight trading.
Also helping markets were U.S. home sales data that wasn't quite as miserable as expected.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors said existing home sales dropped 0.4 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units, the slowest pace on records going back to 1999. Still, that was better than the 4.8 million economists had expected. The median price slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6 per cent from a year ago.
Visa Inc. announced plans to raise almost US$18.8 billion from a public offering of 406.6 million shares at US$37 to $42 per share. The filing showed rival credit card companies MasterCard and American Express trailing Visa in transactions.
The TSX financial sector was in the red for most of the session in the wake of some downgrades to big U.S. banks but improved on the Ambac news, closing 0.25 per cent lower. Royal Bank (TSX:RY) gave back 61 cents to $50.19.
Toronto's energy sector was the main advancer, up 2.37 per cent with the April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rising 42 cents to US$99.23 a barrel on supply concerns heightened by a Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq and warnings by Iran against further international sanctions.
Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) advanced $2.94 to $71.56 and EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) gained $1.33 to $73.09.
Synenco Energy Inc. (TSX:SYN) climbed 88 cents or 13.54 per cent to $7.38 after it signalled it may be for sale and announced the resignation of CEO Todd Newton.
The base metals sector moved up 2.5 per cent with Sherritt International (TSX:S) up 79 cents to $16.65 and First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) ahead $4.27 to $90.95.
The telecom sector contributed to the rise in the TSX, up one per cent. Bell Canada parent BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) rose 61 cents to $36.50 as Canada's broadcast regulator raised concerns that the proposed $52-billion takeover of the company may not meet rules about Canadian ownership and control.
The April gold contract in New York slipped $7.30 to US$940.50 an ounce and the TSX gold sector was off 1.3 per cent. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) faded $1.31 to C$49.32.
Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX:SLW) moved up 24 cents to $16.44 after its fourth-quarter profit rose to US$24.9 million from US$23.8 million.
Denison Mines Corp. (TSX:DML) shares jumped 69 cents to $8.62 after it said the Midwest uranium mine in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan is expected to cost $435 million.
In other corporate news, Electronic Arts Inc. is pushing ahead with a bid to take over gaming rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., despite rebuffs from the smaller company. EA is making an all-cash offer of US$26 a share, or about US$2 billion, for New York City-based Take-Two, known for its "Grand Theft Auto'' franchise.
On the TSX, advances beat declines 997 to 653 with 203 unchanged as 369.2 million shares traded worth $6.1 billion.
