NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) -
* The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX .GSPTSE rose 79.23 points, or 0.50 percent, to 15,808.63.
* The biggest contributor to the TSX gain was Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO with 9.76 net index points. Financials .SPTTFS were the top sector contributor with 31.12 net points.
* Leading the index were Ivanhoe Mines Ltd IVN.TO , up 5.9 percent, Aphria Inc APH.TO , up 5 percent, and MEG Energy Corp MEG.TO , higher by 4.1 percent.
* Lagging shares were Dorel Industries Inc DIIb.TO , down 7.3 percent, NovaGold Resources Inc NG.TO , down 4.8 percent, and Element Fleet Management Corp EFN.TO , lower by 4.5 percent.
* On the TSX 143 issues advanced and 102 declined as a 1.4-to-1 ratio favored advancers. There were 16 new highs and one new low, with total volume of 203.5 million shares.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO , Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO and Baytex Energy Corp BTE.TO .
* The TSX's energy group .SPTTEN rose 0.41 point, or 0.21 percent, while the financials sector .SPTTFS climbed 1.71 points, or 0.58 percent.
* West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 rose 0.24 percent, or $0.17, to $69.89 a barrel O/R
* The TSX is off 2.5 percent for the year.