TORONTO - The positive start to 2010 trading continued Wednesday on the Toronto stock market as commodity stocks continued to benefit from higher prices for oil and metals.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved 56.46 points higher to 11,944.54 while investors took in mixed U.S. economic data on employment and the service sector.

The TSX was up for a fifth session in a row, an encouraging start to the year after charging ahead 31 per cent in 2009.

"We don't really see too many negative elements to suggest that the run that we've had is about to end," said Sid Mokhtari, market technician at CIBC World Markets.

"We do think we should be able to grind higher," Mokhtari added. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a strong torque, the torque is already behind us."

The Canadian dollar rose 0.6 of a cent to 96.85 cents US, its highest level since mid-October.

The base metals sector was the major advancer, up 2.72 per cent as March copper added eight cents to US$3.49 a pound. Sherritt International (TSX:S) ran up 36 cents to $7.23 and First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FNX) gained $4.88 to $88.13.

Shares in Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) gained 51 cents to $17.23 after it said Wednesday it had hired Citi investment bank and mining-sector specialist Hatch Corporate Finance to evaluate strategic options, including a sale of shares, debt or a subsidiary. Ivanhoe's main property is the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in southern Mongolia. Rio Tinto is a minority stakeholder in Ivanhoe and a funding partner in the project.

The gold sector climbed 1.9 per cent with the February bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead $17.80 to US$1,136.50 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) gained 70 cents to $43.18 and Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) climbed 63 cents to $43.38.

The energy sector was 0.8 per cent higher as oil closed above US$83 a barrel for the first time since the fall of 2008 despite a report showing that U.S. inventories ran up 1.3 million barrels last week. The February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.41 to US$83.18 a barrel. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) gained 52 cents to $39.25.

The industrials sector was ahead almost one per cent as Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) improved 14 cents to $4.99.

Ahead of Friday's widely-anticipated U.S. non-farm jobless report for December, the ADP National Employment Report on private companies showed that 84,000 private sector jobs were lost in the United States in December. While an improvement over the 169,000 jobs lost in November, it missed expectations of 73,000 job losses.

And the Institute for Supply Management's U.S. non-manufacturing index came in at 50.1, up from 48.7 in November. A reading of 50 marks the dividing line between growth and contraction in the service sector, which includes more than 80 per cent of U.S. economic activity.

"I think the market is always a good discounting mechanism -- and (the data) kind of suggests that we are definitely in the recovery portion of the economy if the markets are correct here," Mokhtari said.

"If you look at the four-week average for the jobless rate, I think the rate has peaked. Everything is moving in the right direction... but at the same time, it's going to be a grind."

The TSX Venture Exchange moved 26.91 points higher to 1,578.59.

New York markets were weak amid disappointment with the ADP report, while investors also received no encouragement from the afternoon release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates last month.

Minutes of Dec. 15-16 closed-door meeting said that a "few members" thought that the Fed's US$1.25-trillion mortgage-buying program might need to be expanded and extended beyond its current end date of March 31.

However, one member thought the program, intended to drive down mortgage rates and bolster the housing market and keep the recovery going, might need to be scaled back.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 1.66 points to 10,573.68, the Nasdaq composite index dropped 7.62 points to 2,301.09 while the S&P 500 index edged 0.62 of a point higher to 1,137.14.

In other corporate news, WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) ended 2009 on a high note, saying last month's passenger traffic was up 8.1 per cent from December 2008. Its shares climbed 12 cents to $13.38.

Monsanto Co., the world's biggest seed maker, said Wednesday it lost US$19 million in the first quarter as global sales of its Roundup herbicide sank in the face of generic competition. Monsanto's loss compared to a profit of $556 million a year ago. Revenue fell to US$1.7 billion from US$2.65 billion a year ago. Its shares gained $1.26 to US$86.27.

The Toronto Stock Exchange says 2009 saw the market reach a number of new trading and financing records, a period when the market gained just under 31 per cent in stock value.

It says total financings raised were $60 billion, which surpassed the previous record of $47.6 billion set in 2007. The total 2009 trading volume of 118.5 billion exceeded the record of 109.2 billion set in 2008. A record for transactions was also set in 2009 -- 191.3 million trades occurred in 2009 compared with the previous high of 182.9 million set last year.

Shares in TXM Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, Montreal Exchange, Natural Gas Exchange, Boston Options Exchange as well as other financial trading services, were off 34 cents at $32.43.