Canada's main stock index rose on Tuesday, bolstered by bank stocks ahead of the release of earnings reports and a surge in BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) shares, as trading resumed a day after the Victoria Day holiday.

The heavily weighted financials group rose 0.7 per cent, as investors braced for earnings reports this week from major banks.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) climbed 0.9 per cent to $76.17 and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO) gained 0.8 per cent to $63.57.

"The banks are up today on the expectation of a solid Q2," said Cavan Yie, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.

Yie expects loan growth, credit quality and capital markets activity to be supportive of bank earnings in the second quarter but is cautious about the outlook for earnings growth due to elevated house prices and household debt.

BlackBerry jumped 8.8 per cent to $15.27 as investors raised expectations that the technology company's cybersecurity and automotive software sectors will post strong growth, an analyst said.

This month's global "ransomware" attack, dubbed WannaCry, has raised awareness of BlackBerry's security software business, while Ford Motor Co (F.N) said late Friday it would start using an "over the air" system to update software on its interactive touchscreen system, which runs on BlackBerry software.

The information technology group rose 1.1 per cent.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 18.48 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 15,476.94.

Just four of the index's 10 main groups rose, while resource shares were among those that weighed.

The energy group retreated 0.8 per cent even as oil prices climbed.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO) declined 1.7 per cent to $41.28. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.N) has decided to offload a roughly $4.1-billion stake in the company that it acquired as part of a deal to retreat from Canada's oil sands earlier this year, people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

U.S. crude oil prices settled 34 cents US higher at US$51.47 a barrel as expectations of an extension to OPEC-led supply cuts overshadowed a White House proposal to sell half of U.S. petroleum reserves.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.2 per cent as gold stocks lost some ground.

Gold futures fell 0.8 per cent to US$1,250.6 an ounce as traders locked in profits after two weeks of gains.

U.S. MARKETS

Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday after the release of President Donald Trump's budget plan but gains were tempered by declines in consumer discretionary stocks amid weakness in auto-parts companies.

While Tuesday's economic data was weak, investors were relieved Trump's first full budget plan was largely as expected, even if it is not expected to be approved in Congress.

"There were no large surprises. The market is pleased with that," said Wade Balliet, Chief Investment Strategist at Bank of the West.

Trump's budget called for a hike in infrastructure and military spending, along with a raft of politically sensitive cuts, in areas such as healthcare and food assistance programs, with the aim of chopping government spending by US$3.6 trillion and balancing the budget over the next decade.

The S&P 500 ended below its session high. It topped 2,400 points a few times during the session for the first time since the markets' plunge last Wednesday on concerns about the future of Trump's presidency.

While the President is on an overseas trip, stocks were helped by a lack of major news updates related to the government probe on possible ties between his election campaign and Russia.

"With the President being away, with the news cycle slowing a little bit, investors have nibbled their way back in," said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"This market has had tremendous strength on the idea that the new administration is going to be able to push through a pro-business platform. To the extent it loses political credibility the market has had trouble holding these gains."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43.08 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 20,937.91, the S&P 500 gained 4.4 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 2,398.42 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.09 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 6,138.71.

In the morning, U.S. economic data showed new single-family home sales in April tumbled from near a nine-and-a-half-year high, while manufacturing activity for May fell to the lowest level since September.

Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors ended higher. Financials rose 0.8 per cent, helped by a 1.2-per-cent gain in the bank subsector.

Consumer discretionary was the biggest laggard with a 0.4-per-cent drop.

The biggest drag on the consumer sector was Autozone Inc, down 11.8 per cent to US$581.4. The auto part retailer's quarterly results missed expectations. Advance Auto Parts fell 4.6 per cent while O'Reilly Automotive fell 3.3 per cent and Genuine Parts shares fell almost two per cent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.48-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.11-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 49 new 52-week highs and eight new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 81 new highs and 59 new lows.

About 5.95 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 6.9 billion average for the last 20 sessions.