TORONTO, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Canada's benchmark stock market hit its highest since Aug. 8 on Monday due to gains for its heavyweight energy sector while financial and industrial shares rallied.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index soared 63.64 points, or 0.42 percent to close at 15,236.67.
Nine of the market's 10 main sector groups rose, including a 0.8 percent gain for industrial shares as railroad stocks climbed.
The energy sector rose 0.9 percent because of a 3.4 percent gain for oil and natural gas producer Encana Corp to 13.14 Canadian dollars (10.7 U.S. dollars).
The most influential movers in the market also included Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, which jumped 3.5 percent to 23.59 Canadian dollars (19.2 U.S. dollars), and Agrium Inc ,which hiked 3.6 percent to 132.65 Canadian dollars (108 U.S. dollars).
Financial shares rose 0.3 percent, led by a 2.1 percent advance in the shares of Brookfield Asset Management Inc to 49.35 Canadian dollars (40 U.S. dollars).
IGM Financial climbed 4.3 percent to 42.58 Canadian dollars (34.7 U.S. dollars) after BMO raised its rating to outperform from market perform and increased its target price.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners as well as fertilizer companies, rose 0.2 percent.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.91 cents to 0.8133 U.S. dollar while oil prices took on one cent a barrel to 49.9 Canadian dollars (40.6 U.S. dollars) and gold prices fell 13.90 to 1,311.3 U.S. dollars an ounce.
