(Adds portfolio manager comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends up 60.07 points, or 0.50 percent, at 12,002.24
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups were higher
TORONTO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Canada's benchmark stock index
gained on Tuesday in volatile trade that tracked gyrations in
oil markets, Wall Street's mixed return from a holiday and
speculation on China's next economic policy move.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended the session up 60.07 points, or 0.50 percent, at
12,002.24, led by financial shares and helped by telecoms and
some consumer stocks.
U.S. indexes, closed on Monday for a holiday when Toronto
fell 1.1 percent, ended flat to slightly lower. .N
The Toronto index has slumped since late December and is
just above its lowest levels since June 2013.
"The only way to get out of this muck, out of this quicksand
the market's in, is to have a few good days in a row," said
Barry Schwartz, portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services.
But that has proven difficult for the TSX, which hasn't
risen in two consecutive sessions since before it broke for
Christmas.
European and Asian shares also rose as data showing China's
economy grew last year at its slowest pace in a quarter of a
century led investors to anticipate more efforts by Beijing to
spur growth.
But oil prices pared earlier gains as an energy watchdog
warned the market could "drown in oversupply". O/R
"This is a troubling time for all investors," Schwartz said,
advising investors to do nothing. "Making moves at this juncture
is just going to cause more problems."
The energy group retreated 1.6 percent.
Banks and other financial stocks were influential, with
Toronto-Dominion TD TO> up 1.8 percent to C$50.29, Bank of Nova
Scotia BNS.TO advancing 1.7 percent to C$53.27 and Manulife
Financial Corp MFC.TO adding 1 percent to C$18.04.
"The Canadian banks are the cheapest they've been since the
financial crisis," Schwartz said.
Telecoms climbed 1.6 percent, with Rogers Communications Inc
RCIb.TO jumping 2.3 percent to C$49.36 and Telus T.TO rising
1.3 percent to C$36.81.
Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd BIN.TO jumped 10.5 percent
to C$37.38 after agreeing to a reverse merger that will make it
part of the third-biggest waste management company in North
America.
Industrials rose 0.5 percent.
The consumer groups were broadly higher, with staples up 1.1
percent and discretionary adding 1.5 percent.
Convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard
ATDb.TO rose 1.4 percent to C$58.81 and car parts maker Magna
International Inc MG.TO gained 2.5 percent to C$49.69.
Potash Corp POT.TO shares gained 2.7 percent to C$23.65
after it said it would suspend operations at a New Brunswick
mine, cutting more than 400 jobs.