"Oil is up over a dollar and gold is up around $7 so that's helping our commodities," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities Ltd.

The energy group climbed 1.9 percent after the downing of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border pushed crude oil prices sharply higher.

Encana Corp (>> Encana Corporation) advanced 6.5 percent to C$11.36, while Suncor Energy Inc (>> Suncor Energy Inc.) was up 0.9 percent at C$37.00.

The materials group rose 2.1 percent, led by a 3.4 percent gain for Barrick Gold Corp (>> Barrick Gold Corp.) to C$9.84, helped by firmer base and precious metal prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> closed up 25.45 points, or 0.19 percent, at 13,407.83, with just four of the index's 10 main groups in positive territory.

On the other side of the scale sat BCE Inc (>> BCE Inc.), which declined 2.7 percent to C$56.45 after raising C$750 million in a rare bought-deal share sale.

The two main railway stocks were also a drag, including a 1.3 percent drop for Canadian National Railway (>> Canadian National Railway Company) to C$78.06.

Bombardier Inc (>> Bombardier, Inc.) declined 4.8 percent to C$1.18 after it warned that a previously announced business jet production cut will drive down revenue in 2016.

Financials dipped 0.1 percent, with investors waiting for next week's string of bank earnings reports.

"I think expectations are very low," said Kinsey about bank earnings. "So I don't think if they're soft or a bit soft that it will be a surprise to many people. They haven't acted very well."

U.S. crude prices settled at $42.87 a barrel, up 2.7 percent, while Brent crude added 2.9 percent to $46.11.[O/R]

Gold futures rose 0.7 percent to $1,074.8 an ounce. [GOL/]

Copper prices advanced 2.6 percent to $4,608.15 a tonne. [MET/L]

(Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Paul Simao and Diane Craft)

By Fergal Smith