TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index closed higher yesterday after a three-day slide as stronger than expected bank earnings and a firm gold price lifted two of the index's biggest sectors.

The financials group was up about 1.08 percent, spurred by healthy results from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and National Bank of Canada.

The results kicked off the financial sector's earnings season, and raised the outlook for rivals' profits next week.

All six big banks rose, with CIBC up 3.14 percent at C$69.95, while National gained 1.9 percent to C$59.73.

"The financials came alive due to the earnings...and that whole sector propped up Toronto most of the day," said Steve Ibel, institutional equities trader at Beacon Securities in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Gold shares were also among big gainers, lifting the materials group 2.76 percent after the price of gold moved above $1,100 an ounce. Barrick Gold was up 2.53 percent at C$39.69, while Goldcorp gained 3.73 percent to C$39.79.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index finished up 109.61 points, or 0.95 percent, at 11,631.44, rebounding from an earlier decline of nearly one percent.

Eight of the index's 10 main groups were up.

The TSX had opened lower as soft US economic data cast doubt on the pace of the global economic recovery, while Greece's sovereign debt woes continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The Canadian dollar touched a two-week low yesterday as market players fled to the greenback and other safe havens on worries about possible downgrades to Greece's sovereign debt and sluggish US economic data.

But the Canadian currency retraced much of its losses to close only slightly weaker, as equity markets rallied and gold prices rose, restoring some investor appetite for the commodity-linked currency.