(RTTNews) - Toronto stocks surged on Thursday as bargain-hunters took advantage a market that hit an eight-week low. Higher commodity prices and an encouraging gross domestic report from the U.S. contributed to the buying mood.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged 269.89 points or 2.49% to settle at 11,075.22. This erased a 2% drop from yesterday.

Mining stocks gained 7% as copper rose on the Comex. HudBay (HBM.TO) jumped 13.7%, Inmet (IMN.TO) added 9.3% and First Quantum (FM.TO) gained 7.6%.

Teck Resources (TCK.B.TO) has rallied 5.8% after the company’s net earnings for the third quarter increased to C$609 million, or C$1.06 per share, from C$424 million, or C$0.95 per share, in the same period last year.

Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) has climbed 2.6% despite announcing its third-quarter net income was US$3.7 million or US$0.01 per share compared with a loss of US$199.0 million or US$0.51 per share in the prior year period.

Materials stocks rose 4.75% and gold gained 4.2% as the precious metal approached $1,050 per ounce. Iamgold (IMG.TO) has climbed 9.8% and New Gold (NGD.TO) gained 7.7%.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) has added 7.1% after the company reported its adjusted third quarter net income was US$473 million or US$0.54 per share, compared to US$404 million or US$0.46 per share in the year ago quarter.

Meanwhile, Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) dropped 7.4% after the stock was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, which lowered AEM’s price target to $68 from $80.

Energy stocks rose 2.6% as crude oil challenged $80 per barrel. Encana (ECA.TO) rose 3.5%, Suncor (SU.TO) added 3.2% and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) climbed 2.8%.

Financials added 2.4%. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) added 3.9% after the company announced that the Toronto Stock Exchange has approved its buyback of up to 20 million of its common shares.

Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) gained 4.8% after the stock was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) added 4.2% after the stock was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Morgan Joseph.

Imax (IMX.TO) soared 9% after being upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA.TO) rose 5.8% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of C$29 million or C$0.70 per share compared with C$242,000 or C$0.01 per share in the year-ago period.

Tim Hortons (THI.TO) is expected to report third-quarter earnings before Friday’s opening bell. The stock finished Thursday’s session up 1.5%.

On the economic front, the Industrial Product Price Index fell 0.5% and the Raw Materials Price Index dropped 1.1% in September compared to August, according to Statistics Canada.

Canadian gross domestic product data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. GDP for August is expected to come in unchanged, compared to a 0.1% increase in July.

U.S. gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter compared to a 0.7 percent decrease in the second quarter. Economists had been expecting GDP to increase by 3.2 percent.

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Posted in Categories: Canada, Economy, Releases, USA.

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