TORONTO - The Toronto stock market kicked off 2010 trading with a solid advance as encouraging manufacturing data from the U.S. and China sent commodity prices higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 120.79 points to 11,866.9. The Institute for Supply Management's U.S. manufacturing index rose to a better-than-expected 55.9 last month from 53.6 in November. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.
Other data showed China's manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest rate in 20 months in December.
A weak U.S. dollar pushed the Canadian dollar up 0.87 of a cent to 96.02 cents US. Bullion moved ahead $22.10 to US$1,118.30 an ounce, while oil closed up $2.15 to US$81.51 a barrel.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 155.91 points to 10,583.96.
The Nasdaq composite index climbed 39.27 points to 2,308.42 and the S&P 500 index was 17.9 points higher at 1,133.
