TSX climbs to record high close of 15,953.51

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark index closed Friday at a record high, as financial services and energy companies that are so prevalent on the exchange moved higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 61.88 to finish the day at15,953.51,besting its previous high close of 15,922.37 set on Feb. 21.

The market's intraday high on Friday was 15,963.60.

Oil prices gained $1.26US a barrel to settle at $53.90 US, which boosted Canadian energy companies.

Suncor shares gained half a per cent and were trading at $43.30 a day after reporting better than expected profits. Imperial Oil was up almost three per cent to $41.01, despite reporting a smaller profit on Friday morning.

Natural gas giant Encana was up almost five per cent to $14.43, while Precision Drilling addedPrecision Drilling added29 cents, or9.76 per cent, to close at $3.26.

Banks also rose. TD gained almost 0.5 per centto $72.77, while Scotiabank added 0.3 per cent to hit $82.86.

Among the laggards were uranium miner Cameco, which lost more than sixper cent, and toymaker Spin Master which shed more than seven per cent.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 33.33 pointsto 23,434.19. The S&P 500 index advanced 20.67 points to 2,581.07and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 144.49 points to 6,701.26. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new record high closes.