Gold Weighing on Toronto's Main Stock Index

Toronto's main stock index pushed higher on Tuesday morning, following a steep sell-off in the previous session, as U.S. oil prices rose and Wall Street rallied on strength in the banking sector.

The index's heavyweight financial sector rose 0.7 percent as Bank of Nova Scotia advanced 1.2 percent to C$51.40, Toronto-Dominion Bank added 0.6 percent to C$73.06 and Royal Bank of Canada climbed 0.7 percent to C$46.52.

They're getting value here ... they're not really involved in these sovereign loan issues that are causing all the grief, said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.

The Toronto Stock Exchange closed more than 200 points lower on Monday as the heavyweight financials, materials and energy sectors tumbled on escalating fears that Greece was on the tipping point of default.

At 10:36 a.m. (1436 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 51 points, or 0.4 percent, at 12,199.83. Eight of the 10 main sectors were higher, including energy issues, up 0.8 percent, which followed U.S. oil futures higher.

Precious metal miners dragged materials down 0.4 percent as gold prices swung between positive and negative territory following bullion's 2.5 percent slide on Monday. Among the top decliners, Goldcorp was off 2.3 percent at C$51.37, Barrick Gold lost 0.5 percent to C$52.57 and Silver Wheaton slid 2.7 percent to C$38.02.

I think the golds are going to try to turn around here, so hopefully we'll have a better day today than yesterday, added Kinsey.

Sentiment was still shaky however as investors continued to worry that European policymakers had no firm plans to resolve the region's debt crisis as rumors that China would support Italy by buying its government debt failed to materialize.