Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto Stock Exchange closed with just under a triple-digit gain Monday as the price of precious metals rose into record territory, pushing the mining sector higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 97.06 points to 13,276.01. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 17.78 points at 2,127.73.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.20 of a cent to 99.47 cents US as traders moved into defensive investments like the U.S. dollar and gold.

That drove the price of gold to a record settlement.

The February gold contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added $9.90 to US$1,416.10 an ounce. The previous high had been US$1,410.10 on Nov. 9.

Gold producers and other miners were among the top performing stocks on the TSX. Shares in Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) added $1.03 to C$55.25. Metals miners also did well, with Teck Resources Ltd. up $1.86 at C$56.72.

Other commodities also made gains. March silver, the most active contract Monday, rose 46 cents to US$29.92 an ounce. The March copper contract was unchanged at US$4 a pound.

The January crude contract on the Nymex was up 19 cents at US$89.38 a barrel, and the TSX energy index was ahead 0.8%. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) shares gained 64 cents to C$42.52.

“We have a 30-year high in silver today and also gold has been rallying, so that’s been helping the mining sector,”said Colin Cieszynski, a market analyst at CMC Markets Canada.

The information technology sector was up about 2%, on reports that market heavyweight Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) is in talks to settle a dispute with the Indian government over access to BlackBerry Messenger communications. RIM shares were up $1.05 at $63.85.

Financial stocks were among the biggest losers, punished by investors for what has been an uneven and relatively disappointing fourth-quarter earnings season, Cieszynski added.

“There’s definitely some disappointment about earnings season and the biggest banks didn’t increase dividends either,”he said.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY), the TSX’s most influential stock based on market capitalization, fell 63 cents to $52.62 after reporting disappointing earnings Friday.

Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) was the only bank among the big six in positive territory, up 49 cents at $56.12 after it announced it was expanding its presence in Latin America by stepping into Uruguay with the purchase of the country’s fourth-largest private bank by assets, Nuevo Banco Comercial.

Canada’s two largest airlines saw their share prices jump after both reported an increase in passenger traffic in November compared with the same month last year.

Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) said Monday that its passenger traffic increased by 7.5%. Its shares were up seven cents to $3.87. WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) posted a traffic increase of 17.9%. It’s shares were trading up 23 cents at $14.30.

Stock in Corridor Resources Inc. (TSX:CDH) plummeted 33% Monday after it announced “unexpected and perplexing”results from its shale gas appraisal program in the Elgin area of southern New Brunswick. Shares were down $2.55 at $5.19.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 20 points to 11,362.19, the Nasdaq was up 3.46 points at 2,594.92 and the S&P 500 lost 1.59 points to 1,223.12.

There was mixed reaction to comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who said in an interview on the weekend that the American economy is still weak and that more stimulus measures were possible.

Bernanke said the U.S. central bank is prepared to buy even more than US$600 billion in Treasury bonds over the next eight months if necessary to boost economic growth.

In a taped interview with CBS’“60 Minutes”on Sunday, Bernanke also said it could take four or five more years for the U.S. unemployment rate, now at 9.8%, to fall to a historically normal 5% or 6%.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors are awaiting Tuesday’s interest rate announcement by Canada’s central bank. Most economists believe Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney will leave the trend-setting policy rate unchanged at 1%.

In economic data, Statistics Canada said municipalities issued $6.2 billion worth of building permits in October, down 6.5% from September. It blamed the decline largely on drops in both the residential and non-residential sectors in Ontario and Quebec.

In Europe, finance ministers from the 16-country euro zone gathered to discuss ways to stabilize their currency union and avoid more expensive bailouts. Two top officials called for the creation of a new pan-European bond, while others were seeking a boost to the bailout fund.

The governments are intent on winning over market confidence, which has eroded sharply in recent weeks, forcing the bailout of Ireland and hiking the market borrowing rates for fiscally weak countries like Portugal, Spain and Italy.

IE