Commodities stocks weighed on Toronto markets Monday, but strength in financials tempered losses and the S&P/TSX composite index closed up 116.34 points, or 0.88%, at 13,350.13.

Nine of the 10 major TSX groups gained ground.

The financials group kept the TSX benchmark index from sinking by gaining 3.34%.

TD Bank shares gained $2.13, or 3.49%, to close at $63.11, as it completed its takeover of U.S.-based Commerce Bancorp.

Royal Bank of Canada shares gained $2.02, or 4.40%, to end at $47.95 and Bank of Montreal shares gained $1.43, or 3.21%, to close at $45.95.

Meanwhile, the materials group closed down 1.67%.

The gold sub-index lost 1.52%, as gold for June delivery ended down US$15, or 1.6%, at US$921.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Barrick Gold Corp. shares fell 72¢, or 1.58%, to close at $44.88 and High River Gold Mines Ltd. shares fell 22¢, or 7.72%, to close at $2.63.

The base metals group also tumbled, losing 1.45% for the day.

Shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. lost 2¢, or 0.19% to close at $10.70 after it announced further losses in 2007 as it awaits an agreement with the Mongolian government for a copper mine.

As well, shares in Eastern Platinum Ltd. fell 11¢, or 3.28%, to end at $3.24 on a heavy day of trading.

The heavyweight energy group lost just 0.68%, even as May’s crude contract fell US$4.04, or 3.8%, to settle at US$101.58 a barrel on the Nymex.

Shares in Encana Corp. closed up $1.84, or 2.41%, to end at $78.20 while Suncor Energy Inc. shares fell 29¢, or 0.29%, to end at $99.21.

In individual stocks, Mega Brands Inc. shares fell 24¢, or 4.74%, closing at $4.82 after it announced a 2007 net loss of US$97.1 million as sales dropped to US$524.5 million from $547.3 million.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 8.93 points, or 0.35%, at 2,517.56.

The Canadian dollar closed out at US97.42, down 0.48 of a cent from yesterday’s close, as Statistics Canada reported that Canadian GDP increased
0.6% in January after retreating 0.7% in December.

In New York, new plans to regulate financial markets combined with a better-than-expected reading from the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index kept markets in the black for the day..

The Dow gained 46.49 points, or 0.38%, to end at 12,262.89. The S&P 500 gained 7.48 points, or 0.57%, to close at 1,322.70.

As well, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed up 17.92 points, or 0.79%, at 2,279.10.

The Down and the S&P 500 posted their fifth straight month of losses, while the Nasdaq snapped a four-month losing run.

For the month of March, the Dow dipped 0.03% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.6%, but the Nasdaq edged up 0.3%.

For the first quarter, the Dow fell 7.6%, the S&P 500 was down 9.9% and the Nasdaq lost 14.1%.

For all three benchmarks, it was the worst quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2002.