Fears of a regional conflagration over Ukraine started to wane after Russia said on Sunday that weekend talks among foreign ministers made progress in resolving differences.

Even so, investors remained unsettled when Ukraine accused pro-Russian rebels on Monday of shooting rocket fire on a convoy of buses of refugees, killing people trapped in burning vehicles, but the separatists denied responsibility.

The Toronto market was up for a third straight session and has gained about 13 percent this year.

“Momentum has slowed somewhat, but sentiment is still quite (positive) even after such a large rally in equities,” said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at Stenner Investment Partners of Richardson GMP Ltd, which manages about C$28.3 billion in assets.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 34.23 points, or 0.22 percent, at 15,338.47. Seven of the 10 main sectors on the index were higher.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, added 0.4 percent, with Royal Bank of Canada climbing 0.7 percent to C$80.41 and Bank of Nova Scotia advancing 0.2 percent to C$72.55.

Shares of industrial companies rose 0.6 percent. Air Canada jumped 5.9 percent to C$8.48, and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd gained 0.7 percent to C$214.34.

(Editing by W Simon and Meredith Mazzilli)

By John Tilak