TORONTO - Stock markets were higher Wednesday, building on the huge gains racked up Tuesday following news that American financial services giant Citigroup Inc. was operating at a profit. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index gained 111.7 points to 7,992.1 after a 12 per cent jump in the financial sector helped drive the main index up 313 points or four per cent, its biggest gain this year. The TSX Venture Exchange ticked 1.62 points higher to 820.17. The Canadian dollar rose 0.55 cent to 78.36 cents US. New York's Dow Jones industrials advanced 72.4 points to 6,998.9 after charging ahead 379 points on Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite index rose 17.78 points to 1,376.06 following a 90-point surge while the S&P 500 added to Tuesday's 43-point rise, up 2.45 points to 722.05. Citigroup's news energized financial stocks which have been languishing because of increased worries about nationalizing American banks and a run of bad news from U.S. financial institutions, including a huge US$62-billion loss handed in by insurer American International Group Inc. last week. Citi shares rose another 23 cents to US$1.68 after surging 38 per cent Tuesday. The big question Wednesday was whether the market could maintain its momentum throughout the day. "It's rare to see large gains follow large gains," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments. "I think it's too soon to call a bottom in this market despite yesterday's strong performance." Analysts say that Tuesday's rally was also fed by short covering, which occurs when investors need to buy stock to replace shares that were borrowed and then sold on expectations of a market decline. Investors also took in comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the Obama administration will unveil the government's plan for dealing with banks' toxic assets within the next couple of weeks. During an interview aired Tuesday night on "The Charlie Rose Show," Geithner said the plan the administration has put together will provide financing to private investors who are willing to buy banks' bad assets. He predicted the plan will succeed but will take time to work. The TSX financial sector was up another 3.45 per cent as Manulife Financial edged up 62 cents to $11.50 and Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) rose 94 cents to $30.65. Oil stocks were under some pressure as the April crude contract in New York moved down 87 cents to US$44.84 a barrel even as a senior Kuwaiti official says OPEC is likely to announce a production cut during its meeting Sunday in Vienna. Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) lost 30 cents to C$27.59 and Suncor Inc. (TSX:SU) gave back 61 cents to $29.80. Supreme Petroleum Council member Emad al-Atiqi says the cartel's decision "is expected to be endorsed unanimously due to what is happening with prices." The April bullion contract on the Nymex was up $4.20 to US$900.10 an ounce, taking the gold sector up 1.3 per cent. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) climbed 51 cents to C$34.50. Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) shares jumped 29 cents to $2.88 after it said Wednesday it had finalized an agreement to build 30 of its CS100 jets at a price of US$1.5 billion for Germany's Deutsch Lufthansa AG. Shares in travel operator Transat A.T. Inc. (TSX:TRZ.B) fell $1.09 to $6.51 after it reported a sharp increase in its first quarter loss and added it was also suspending its quarterly dividend in order to conserve cash during the global economic slump. The Montreal-based company said its quarterly loss jumped to $29.4 million from $7.9 million from the previous year. Office products retailer Staples Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 14 per cent amid a number of charges related to an acquisition. The company reported a 16 per cent jump in sales. But both sales and adjusted earnings missed Wall Street expectations. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average jumped 4.6 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose two per cent. Britain's FTSE 100 dipped 0.15 per cent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.65 per cent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.4 per cent.

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