The Canadian stock market closed modestly higher Monday as buyers remained cautious in trading after signs of slowing global growth sent stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange sharply lower last week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 25.13 points, or 0.21 percent, to 12,090.68 while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index increased 5. 28 points, or 0.56 percent, to 944.35.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index was led by advances in gold shares Monday after falling more than 10 percent last week when gold price plunged to its lowest level in more than two years.

The gold sector rose about 1.5 percent Monday as gold price advanced with the June contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 25.60 U.S. dollars to 1,421.20 U.S. dollars an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. grew by 2.6 percent to 29.32 Canadian dollars per share and Kinross Gold jumped by 3.5 percent.

The energy sector also provided support, up 1.2 percent while the May crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose about 1 percent after falling three percent last week. Suncor Energy was up 1.7 percent to 28.60 Canadian dollars per share.

The financial sector shed 0.25 percent as risk sentiment went higher after a weekend meeting of the G20 countries gave its approval for Japan's aggressive monetary policy, which has been interpreted as a way to weaken the yen and gain trade advantages for Japanese exporters. Royal Bank of Canada lost 0.8 percent to 60.97 Canadian dollars per share.

Among individual stocks, shares in Canada's biggest airline carrier Air Canada tumbled 38 Canadian cents, or 12.7 percent, to 2.62 Canadian dollars after the carrier estimated the company was going to lose 260 million Canadian dollars in the first quarter of this year, down from a 274-million net loss a year earlier.

At the closing, the Canadian dollar moved slightly up to 0.9748 U.S. dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), compared with 0.9741 U.S. dollars last Friday. Enditem

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