Toronto stocks made solid gains Thursday boosted by industrial and financial issues. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 156.87 points, or 1.21%, at 13,155.08.

All of the 10 main TSX groups made gains.

The industrials group was up 2.24%, led by Allen Vanguard Corp., which closed up $1.67, or 42.71%, at $5.58, after a day of heavy trading.

The heavyweight financials group gained 1.39%.

CIBC shares gained $4.55, or 6.62%, to close at $73.25, and TD Bank Financial shares gained 76¢, or 1.13%, closing at $68.01.

Sunlife Financial Inc. shares gained 67¢, or 1.37%, closing at $49.65.

The energy group gained 0.96%.

Crude-oil futures for March delivery dropped 58¢, or 0.6%, to US$91.75 a barrel on the Nymex.

Petro-Canada shares lost $1.42, or 3.02.%, to close at $45.63, after it reported fourth-quarter earnings increased 36% over last year, to $522 million.

The gold sub-group lost 1.59%, as gold for April delivery gained US$1.70 to end at US$928 an ounce on the Nymex.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 9.31 points, or 0.36%, at 2,564.69.

The Canadian dollar lost ground today, ending the day at $US99.62, down 0.38 of a cent from yesterday’s close.

In New York, markets surged ahead after finding solace in assurance from bond insurer MBIA Inc. that its AAA ratings would survive.

The Dow Jones industrial average soared 207.53 points, or 1.67%, to close at 12,650.36.

The S&P 500 jumped 22.69 points, or 1.67%, to 1,378.50.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 40.86 points, or 1.74%, to shut down at 2,389.86.

For the month, the Dow lost 4.6%, marking its worst January since 2000. The S&P lost 6.2%, its worst January since 1990. For the Nasdaq, the 9.9% decline on the month was its worst-ever January performance.