Surprisingly strong January retail sales figures from the U.S. allayed investor fears of a recession and helped push Toronto markets higher on Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 194.92 points, or 1.49%, at 13,282.30.

All 10 of the TSX main groups made gains.

The materials group moved up 1.41%. Eastern Platinum Corp. was the big mover in this group. Its shares moved up 5¢, or 1.53%, to close at $3.31.

The gold sub-index gained 1.63% even as gold for April delivery ended down 90¢ at US$910.20 an ounce on the Nymex.

Eldorado Gold Corp. shares gained 10¢, or 1.73%, closing at $5.87.

The heavyweight energy group gained 2.01%.

Crude oil for March delivery gained 49¢, or 0.5%, to end the session at US$93.27 a barrel on the Nymex.

Canadian Natural Resources stock gained $2.26, or 3.59%, to finish at $65.25.

The financials sector lost early gains and ended relatively flat, up 0.53%.

CIBC shares went up $1.10, or 1.65%, to end the day at $67.70. Royal Bank of Canada stock lost 15¢, or 0.29%, to close at $50.70.

In individual stocks, shares in WestJet Airlines gained 69¢, or 3.99%, to close at $17.99, after it announced Q4 profit rose to $75.4 million from $26.7 million a year-ago, due to a $33.7 million cut in federal tax.

The information tech group gained 5.14%. RIM shares gained $4.88, or 5.33%, to end the day at $96.52, as the company explained a 3-hour service outage earlier this week.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 24.52, or 0.97%, at 2,561.31.

The Canadian dollar ended the day at par with the greenback, up 0.10 of a cent from yesterday’s close.

In New York, U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday as an unexpected rise in U.S. retail sales during January eased recession worries and strong results out of the semiconductor sector lifted technology shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 178.83 points, or 1.45%, to close at 12,552.24.

The S&P 500 closed up 18.35 points, or 1.36%, at 1,367.21.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index also made gains, closing up 53.89 points, or 2.32%, at 2,373.93.