NEW YORK, May 17 (Reuters) -
* The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX .GSPTSE rose 35.49 points, or 0.22 percent, to 16,143.55.
* The biggest contributor to the TSX gain was Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO with 8.9 net index points. Energy was the top sector contributor.
* Leading the index were ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc ATA.TO , up 11.1 percent, Spartan Energy Corp SPE.TO , up 6.6 percent, and Vermilion Energy Inc VET.TO , higher by 6 percent.
* Lagging shares were Aphria Inc APH.TO , down 6.8 percent, Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB.TO , down 3.5 percent, and Kinaxis Inc KXS.TO , lower by 2.8 percent.
* On the TSX 126 issues advanced and 112 declined as a 1.1-to-1 ratio favored advancers. There were 20 new highs and 3 new lows, with total volume of 206.2 million shares.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB.TO , Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO and Baytex Energy Corp BTE.TO .
* The TSX's energy group .SPTTEN rose 4.38 points, or 2.12 percent, while the financials sector .SPTTFS slipped 0.16 points, or -0.05 percent.
* West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 rose 0.11 percent, or $0.08, to $71.57 a barrel. Brent crude LCOc1 rose 0.15 percent, or $0.12, to $79.4 O/R
* The TSX is off 0.4 percent for the year.