By Ka Yan Ng
TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index rose to a two-week high on Monday morning, propelled by a reassuring pledge from the Group of 20 to keep economic stimulus measures in place until a recovery is intact.
That boosted appetite for risk and helped oil rise nearly $2 a barrel to above $79 and lifted gold prices to a record above $1,110 an ounce.
Suncor Energy rose 4.7 percent to C$37.07 to lead all influential gainers, while Kinross Gold advanced 3.6 percent to C$20.85.
Financial issues, often a proxy for the broader economy, were also big contributors to the wide-ranging rally, with three banks and one insurer among the TSX's top 10 influential gainers. Royal Bank of Canada led the group with a 1.4 percent rise to C$56.04.
Officials from the world's 20 biggest developed and emerging economies said at the end of talks in St. Andrews, Scotland, that while the global economy has improved, recovery is still uneven and depends on policy support.
"People are still willing to give the economy the benefit of the doubt. Even though it's fragile, the direction is certainly going the right way," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.
"The important thing is the medicine that's helped us avoid a depression and get over the financial crisis is still going to be there."
At 10:23 a.m. EST, the resource-laden S&P/TSX composite index was up 187.76 points, or 1.67 percent, at 11,438.18, extending gains for a fifth straight session.
Research In Motion initially fell at the open after Susquehanna Financial downgraded its rating on the BlackBerry maker to "neutral" from "positive." It was up 0.6 percent at C$63.56.
CGI Group and Ensign Energy were among the handful of decliners, after the companies reported quarterly results.
CGI fell 1.1 percent to C$12.98, while Ensign was off 0.3 percent at C$15.93.
(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Rob Wilson)
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