TORONTO (Reuters) - Soaring oil prices could become a double-edged sword for Toronto's resource-laden stock market, as the threat of rising inflation begins to nag at the index amid growing economic worries around the world.

Up until recently, the S&P/TSX composite index has largely been able to keep worries over inflation on the back burner and enjoy the benefits of its booming energy sector.

But this month's economic data showed a jump in consumer prices in May thanks to sharply higher gasoline, giving inflation concerns a fresh prominence.

A surprise decision from the Bank of Canada to hold interest rates steady earlier in June, when a quarter-point cut had been widely expected, also highlighted the growing inflation worries.

"The market participants' view has shifted over the last three weeks," becoming more concerned about the risks of inflation than faltering economic growth, said Clement Gignac, chief economist at National Bank of Canada in Montreal.

Consumer prices rose 2.2 percent in May, data showed. And the one percent increase from April to May was the largest monthly rise since the 2.6 percent posted in January 1991.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney later characterised the global spike in energy and food prices as a "commodity super cycle" during a speech in Calgary, and said the unprecedented rise called for a "relentless focus on inflation".

Since the beginning of the year, Bay Street has been able to look to the energy sector for support, with high-flying oil prices offering a windfall for the bottom lines of energy companies, which make up about 30 percent of the Toronto Stock Exchange's main index.

But crude's seemingly unstoppable climb to ever-higher records, including a peak near $143 a barrel on Friday, has reached a point where worries are deepening over the inevitable impact on consumer prices, as well as on the cost of running a business, analysts said.