(RTTNews) - Toronto’s main index turned modestly higher on Thursday as financial stocks pared much of their early slump. Strength in the telecom and mining sectors pushed the market into positive territory.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index has added 40.89 points or 0.47% to finish at 8,778.78. The positive close was the first in three days.

Telecommunications stocks led the gainers, rising 2.6%. Telus (T.TO) jumped 4.6%, Rogers Communications (RCI.B.TO) gained 3.4% and Bell Canada (BCE.TO) added 1.8%.

Mining stocks also moved higher by 2.1%. Ivanhoe (IVN.TO) climbed 9.1%, First Quantum (FM.TO) jumped 4.8% and FNX Mining (FNX.TO) gained 1.25%.

Technology stocks gained 1.5% as Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM.TO) jumped 5.1%, paring some of yesterday’s slide.

The Financial Index finished down a modest 0.9% after paring much of its daily slide. Toronto-Dominion (TD.TO) led the decliners with a 2.9% slip, while National Bank (NA.TO) jumped 4.3% and Scotiabank (BNS.TO) added 1.5%.

Canaccord Capital (CCI.TO) ended down 1.15% after the company reported a third-quarter net loss of C$62.4 million or C$1.27 per share, compared to net income of C$15.0 million or C$0.31 per share in the same quarter last year. Excluding items, the company reported a third-quarter net loss of C$16.2 million or C$0.33 per share.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) lost 6% after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.24 per share, compared to a profit of $0.75 a year ago.

Great-West Lifeco (GWO.TO) lost 1.9% after the company reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of C$907 million or C$1.009 per share, compared to net income of C$537 million or C$0.597 per share in the previous year quarter.

Energy stocks lost 0.5% as crude oil has continued its tumble. Pason Systems (PSI.TO) added 4.4% and Petro-Canada (PCA.TO) gained 2.4%.

Light sweet crude oil for March delivery dropped to $33.98, down $1.96. This was the lowest close for a front-month contract since Dec. 19 when January ended at a four-year low of $33.98 on its final day before expiration.

Nexen (NXY.TO) fell 2.7% after the company announced a fourth-quarter net loss of C$181 million or C$0.35 per share, compared to profit of C$194 million or C$0.37 per share in the previous year quarter.

EnCana (ECA.TO) finished up 0.3% after company announced its net earnings for the fourth quarter were flat at US$1.08 billion, or US$1.43 per share.

In other corporate news, CV Technologies (CVQ.TO) lost 4.8% after the company announced first-quarter net earnings of C$2.8 million or C$0.03 per share, compared to C$6.8 million or C$0.06 per share last year.

On the economic front, the U.S. Labor Department revealed Thursday that initial jobless claims came in at 623,000 for the week ended February 7, down 8,000 from the previous week’s revised total.

A Commerce Department report showed that retail sales rose 1.0 percent in January following a revised 3.0 percent decrease in December. Economists had expected sales to fall by 0.8 percent compared to the 2.7 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.

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

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