Toronto stocks finished higher on Thursday as oil prices rose and supported a rally among energy issues, but Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce extended its recent decline and capped the overall gain. The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index rose 27.92 points, or 0.26 percent, to 10,626.71.
Oil prices rose as refinery problems in the United States rekindled fears that oil and fuel producers will be challenged to keep up with growing demand.
US light sweet crude rose to $61.38 a barrel, while Brent futures in London finished at $60.12 a barrel.
Shares of Suncor Energy rose C$3.23, or 5 percent, to C$66.35, while EnCana Corp added C$1.09, or 2 percent, to close at C$52.15.
The energy sector rose a market-leading 2.3 percent, while the healthcare group rose 1.8 percent. Seven of the TSX's 10 subindexes ended higher.
But the heavily weighted financial index fell 0.8 percent as news earlier this week that CIBC would take a C$2.5 billion charge to settle a lawsuit brought by investors in collapsed energy trader Enron Corp hovered over the sector.
Shares of CIBC dropped C$2.80, or 3.7 percent, to C$71.75, while Bank of Montreal handed back C$2.31, or 3.7 percent, to C$59.09.
Improved second-quarter profits by both Manulife Financial and Great-West Life helped the shares of each insurer, but the reports were unable to reverse the financial sector's decline.
Manulife shares gained 85 Canadian cents, or 1.4 percent, to C$63.75, while Great-West shares rose 35 Canadian cents, or 1 percent, to C$30.55.
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