The Toronto Stock Exchange had its best day in more than three weeks Wednesday, spurred on by the energy sector as oil prices rose and a Canadian oilsands company was part of a billion-dollar-plus foreign takeover. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 197.1 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 11,397.27. Besides the oil-and-gas sector, gains were seen in areas such as materials, financials and industrials. Calgary-based UTS Energy Corp. said it had agreed to be taken over by France's Total SA for $1.5 billion. That worked out to $3.08 a share, helping boost the market value for UTS on Bay Street by 63.03 per cent to $3.44. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil was up $2.09 to $74.07 U.S. a barrel for its first gain in seven days. Gold reversed earlier declines to rise $3.80 to $1,198.90 U.S. an ounce. Copper was up four cents to $3.02 U.S. a pound, setting the stage for some big gains in base-metal stocks on the TSX. Lundin Mining Corp. was up 10.48 per cent to $3.48, while First Quantum Minerals Ltd. gained 7.48 per cent to $59.80. The Canadian dollar was up 72 basis points to 95.44 cents U.S.. Before the gains of recent days, the TSX saw its lowest close of the year on Monday as investors worried about the state of the economic recovery. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Wednesday its June index of members' confidence had declined to a level to suggest annualized economic growth of 2.5 per cent. That would compare to a 6.1 per cent rate of expansion in this year's first quarter, which was the most in more than a decade. As well, the Ivey purchasing managers index for June, a general gauge of Canada's economic activity, showed a decline for the first time in six months. The junior TSX Venture composite was up 13.97 points, or 1.04 per cent, to 1,361.48 on Wednesday. Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading for ScotiaMcLeod in Toronto, said when you get past the rise in commodity prices on Wednesday, it's hard to find a clear basis for why Canadian stocks did so well in the day's session. "I'm not sure this is sustainable," he said. "We may see a little bit of a correction (Thursday)." U.S. stocks were also up as the International Council of Shopping Centers forecast that there were average monthly gains of four per cent in U.S. retail sales from February to June, which would mark the fastest growth in four years. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 274.66 points, or 2.82 per cent, to 10,018.28. The Nasdaq composite index was ahead by 65.59 points, or 3.13 per cent, to 2,159.47. Markets in Europe were up but Asia was down as a report from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development said unemployment in industrialized countries averaged 8.7 per cent in the first quarter, a postwar high.

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