Nortel Networks Corp led Toronto stocks to a higher close on Monday after reporting an unexpected jump in revenue, while oil prices scaled a new peak, lifting energy shares.
The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index rose 63.84 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 10,614.35, about 68 points off its session high.
"People were relieved that Nortel seems close to getting their act together, and their revenue exceeded what people were expecting," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd.
The information technology sector rose 2.9 percent, while the energy group was next in line with a 2 percent gain. Six of the TSX's 10 main subindexes closed higher.
Nortel headlined a rally in tech shares after the telecommunications equipment supplier said its second-quarter profit more than doubled and that it expects full-year sales to maintain a growth rate of 10 percent. It triggered a rush for shares of Nortel, which still faces regulatory and criminal probes from a long accounting scandal that has drained the shares of much of their value.
Shares of Nortel rose 40 Canadian cents, or 12.5 percent, to C$3.60, while software maker Hummingbird Ltd gained C$2.23, or 10 percent, to C$23.87.
Energy stocks raced higher after oil prices hit a record $64 a barrel after warnings of militant attacks in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and on worries about refinery outages in the United States.
Canadian Natural Resources finished ahead C$2.60, or 4.7 percent, at C$58.30, while Suncor Energy rose C$2.21, or 3 percent, to C$68.23.
The materials sector finished ahead 0.7 percent, helped largely by Alcan Inc, after the big aluminum maker delivered a second-quarter profit that topped estimates.
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