to bad lbe isn't riding "the wave"

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market surged about nine per cent in late-morning trading as investors digested a massive rescue package aimed at U.S. banks.

Remarkable as the stock market's performance was, Toronto's gains were about half what they had been early in the session, when the S&P/TSX composite index bounded ahead by more than 1,600 points.

Close to midday the main index was up 804.7 points or 8.9 per cent to 9,869.86 after U.S. President George W. Bush announced the government would spend US$250 billion to directly buy shares in the country's leading banks.

That followed signals that European governments were putting up nearly $2 trillion to safeguard their banks.

Higher crude oil prices and a weaker American currency sent the Canadian dollar up 2.36 cents to 87.05 cents US, after a drop of 2.6 cents Friday.

New York stock market indexes were mixed following huge gains on Monday.