TORONTO - The Toronto stock market ended the session with a solid advance Thursday thanks to gains in energy and mining stocks amid a suggestion by the Bank of Canada that economic growth could be stronger than it predicted in July.

"Canada, after underperforming a bit yesterday, was picking up today -- playing some catch-up," said John Johnston, chief strategist for the Harbour Group at RBC Dominion Securities.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 154.83 points to 11,155.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.19 of a cent to 92.7 cents U.S. following the Bank of Canada's forecast, which came as it also announced it was leaving its key interest rate at 0.25 per cent.

In July, the bank had projected the economy would rebound by 1.3 per cent in the current quarter and another three per cent in the final three months of the year.

The central bank said performance could be even better because of stimulative monetary and fiscal policies, improved financial conditions, firmer commodity prices and a rebound in business and consumer confidence.

The Bank of Canada added that persistent strength in the Canadian dollar remains a risk to growth.

The TSX energy sector was up 2.37 per cent as the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up 63 cents to US$71.94 a barrel.

The increase came after data showed a drawdown of U.S. inventories totalling 5.9 million barrels last week, more than three times estimates of analysts surveyed by Platt's, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) rose $1.50 to $59.34 and Suncor Inc. (TSX:SU) gained $1.38 to $36.15.

Also, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries confirmed early Thursday at its meeting in Vienna that it would keep crude output unchanged.

And the International Energy Agency said the slump in global oil demand in 2009 would be less severe than previously forecast and predicted consumption would rise in 2010 as the world economy stabilizes.

"Demand has taken some time to turn around -- there's a lot of inventory out there in the crude market so a pickup in demand would be nice," added Johnston.

"That fits in with a number of other indicators that the global economy is turning upward."

The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 13.84 points to 1,249.49.

In corporate news, Magna International Inc. (TSX:MG.A) inched ahead seven cents to $47.41 after General Motors announced it will recommend that the automaker's Opel unit be sold to a consortium including the Canadian auto parts firm and Russia's Sberbank.

New York markets were higher following a better than expected jobs report and an upbeat forecast from Procter & Gamble.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 80.26 points to 9,627.48 as the U.S. Labour Department said that new jobless claims fell more than expected to 550,000 last week and total unemployment rolls dropped.

Analysts had expected new claims to drop to 560,000.

The Nasdaq composite index moved ahead 23.63 points to 2,084.02, while the S&P 500 index added 10.77 points to 1,044.14.

Shares of Procter & Gamble Co., maker of Tide laundry detergent and Gillette razors, rose $2.29 to US$56.05 after it said it expects sales to begin rebounding this fall as it cuts prices and adds new versions of its products that emphasize value.

Company officials told investors they expect the sale of P&G's prescription drug businesses to increase earnings by 32 to 34 cents a share this fiscal year. They also said they project organic sales growth of one to four per cent for the October-December quarter.

The December gold contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange continued to back away from the US$1,000 mark, falling $3 to US$996.80 an ounce, but the TSX gold sector rose 3.45 per cent. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) gained $1.28 to C$40.99 and Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) was ahead $1.38 to $43.99.

The base metals sector moved up 1.45 per cent as the December copper contract backed off 4.75 cents to US$2.8765 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) advanced 58 cents to C$28.60.

The financial sector also helped maintain gains, up 0.47 per cent. Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) was up $1.09 to $44.96.

Shares in Yogawear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. (TSX: LLL) added a penny to $23.40 after it reported that revenue in the summer quarter rose 14 per cent from a year ago to US$97.7 million. However, Lululemon's net income fell to $9.2 million, down from $11.1 million a year ago.

In other economic news, Canadian merchandise imports and exports both increased in July as a result of broad-based growth in volumes. As a result, Canada registered a trade deficit of $1.4 billion in July compared with a trade surplus of $37 million in June.

Higher exports of machinery and equipment and automotive products led the increase in overall exports. Declines in exports of energy products tempered the gain.

The U.S. trade deficit shot up in July to the highest level in six months as a surge in shipments of foreign oil and autos pushed imports up by a record amount. The deficit rose 16.3 per cent to $32 billion in July, much larger than the $27.4 billion imbalance that economists had expected.