TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index was comfortably higher on Tuesday morning as relatively steady oil prices helped Suncor Energy and some of its energy peers lead a broad-based rally.
Suncor, which headlined the market's early gains, was up 1.3 percent at C$38.54, while Canadian Natural Resources rose 0.3 percent to C$72.67.
The rally in energy shares came as the price of oil managed to stick near $79 a barrel, which some analysts felt was ideal for Canadian energy companies.
"As long as it stays around these levels it's a good price in the sense that the oil producers make money and the economy can continue to grow," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.
"If we went up to $100 (a barrel) in a very short period of time I think the global economy would greatly pull back."
At 10:10 a.m. (1510 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.82 points, or 0.3 percent, at 11,547.08. Earlier it had slid as much as 9 points.
Capping the broader index's gain was a slide by gold-mining shares, which fell as the price of gold retreated from some of the previous day's rally to record highs.
Kinross Gold was off 1.2 percent at C$20.44, while Yamana Gold dropped 0.9 percent to C$13.59.
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