Financial shares helped push Canada’s main stock index higher Tuesday following the three-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index advanced 42.04 points to 15,770.36.

“There’s a better seasonal backing for banks as we go into Q4,” said Sid Mokhtari, executive director of portfolio and technical research at CIBC Capital Markets. “That’s a theme that’s been going on today.”

A surge in the price of oil — which saw the November crude contract spike $1.34 to US$50.92 per barrel — did little to buoy the energy sector, which was down 0.01%.

“There is anecdotal evidence that suggests that there may be some improved demand side for the commodity as global growth starts to improve,” Mokhtari said of oil’s upward movement.

“I also think to a greater degree it has a lot to do with the price action… It’s finding stability above a series of technical averages, that level being roughly US$49 to US$50, and as it gets above the US$50 level it forces a lot of shorts to come back into the market.”

South of the border, it was also a positive trading day on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 69.61 points to 22,830.68, a record high. The S&P 500 index was up 5.91 points to 2,550.64 and the Nasdaq composite index gained 7.52 points to 6,587.25.

In currency markets, the Canadian dollar was trading at an average price of US79.99¢, up 0.30 of a cent.

Elsewhere in commodities, the December gold contract climbed US$8.80 to US$1,293.80 an ounce.

The November natural gas contract was up US6¢ at US$2.89 per mmBTU and the December copper contract was up US3¢ to US$3.06 a pound.