Toronto stocks were slightly higher at midday as surprised strength in bank stocks teamed up with continued strength in golds to raise hopes for the market’s first positive close in four sessions.

The TSE 300 was up 17.34 points, or 0.23% at 7,514.40 at noon.

Overall, eight of the TSE 300’s subindexes were higher. Bank stocks gained 0.64% and golds and precious minerals were up 1.05%.

The financial services sector, down 1.5% so far in February, managed to fight off concerns over loan loss provisions.

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada were up 56 cents, or 1.2%, at $48.08, while Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 54 cents, or 1.3%, to $41.48.

Gold stocks, which have gained about 18.5% so far this year, including a 6.1% gain in the past week on stronger gold prices, were also showing leadership.

In the gold group, Barrick Gold Corp. was up 32 cents, or 1%, at $29.20 and Placer Dome Inc. was up 40 cents, or 2%, at $20.45.

QLT Inc. was off $1.68 at $27.07 after sales of its anti-blindness treatment failed to meet expectations and the company gave a wide range of revenue guidance for fiscal 2002.

Air Canada was down 33 cents at $4.52 after the country’s dominant airline said its net loss in the quarter ended Dec. 31 deepened to $380 million, or $3.16 a share, from a net loss of $274 million, or $2.28 a share, a year earlier.

In New York the Dow Jones industrial average rose 48 points, or 0.50%, to 9,701. Conglomerate Minnesota Mining, up 57 cents at US$110.26, was among the economically sensitive stocks leading the Dow higher.

The Nasdaq moved back into the red, down 4 points, or 0.27%, at 1,807. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 4 points, or 0.41%, to 1,087.