(RTTNews) - Bay Street stocks turned to the upside Thursday afternoon, led by significant strength in the mining sector. Energy and financial stocks turned higher to help the market into positive territory.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 122.78 points or 1.41% to 8,815.87. Toronto’s main index is on target for a third straight positive close.

Mining stocks are up 7% to lead the way. Ivanhoe (IVN.TO) has surged 13.8%, Hudbay (HBM.TO) has added 12.4, FNX Mining (FNX.TO) has rallied 10.1%, First Quantum (FM.TO) has surged 8.1% and Teck Cominco (TCK.B.TO) has added 6%.

Materials stocks are up 3.5% and gold stocks have rallied 2.3% as the precious metal climbed $12 on the NYMEX to finish at $913.60. Centerra (CG.TO) is up 4.5%, Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) has added 3.7%, Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is up 3.1% and Kinross (K.TO) added 2.9%.

Energy stocks are up 1.4% as crude oil turned higher in U.S. trading. Petro-Canada (PCA.TO) has gained 3.7%, Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is up 3.3% and Encana (ECA.TO) has gained 1.8%. Light sweet crude for March delivery has rallied 84 cents to $41.16 a barrel.

Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is down 1.9% after the company announced announced fourth quarter earnings per share of C$0.27, down from C$1.26 a year ago.

Financials are up 1.75% after recouping early losses. CIBC (CM.TO) has added 3.2%, Scotiabank (BNS.TO) is up 2.4% and Royal Bank (RY.TO) has gained 2.25%.

In other corporate news, Brookfield Properties (BPO.TO) has soared 20% after the company reported fourth-quarter net income of US$458 million or US$1.16 per share, compared to US$105 million or US$0.27 per share in the same quarter last year.

Also, the board of Certicom Corp (CIC.TO) determined that a $3-per-share takeover offer from Research in Motion (RIM.TO) was superior to that of VeriSign. Certicom shares are up 1.3% and RIM has turned higher and is showing a 1.7% gain.

Fortis (FTS.TO) is up 1%. The company reported fourth-quarter net earnings applicable to common shares of C$76 million or C$0.46 per share, compared to C$79 million or C$0.49 per share last year.

On the economic front, data showed Canadian building permits fell 3.9% in December and reached the lowest level since January 2006. A drop of about 5% was expected.

In the U.S., the Labor Department report showed that initial jobless claims rose to 626,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 591,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 580,000 from the 588,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 2% in February. Meanwhile, the Bank of England lowered its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 1%. Both moves were widely-predicted.

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Posted in Categories: Canada, Eurozone, Releases, Stocks, UK, USA.

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