TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index charged ahead for a fourth straight session yesterday, adding more than 200 points as recently pummeled mining and metals issues led a broad-based advance.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 224.43 points, or 1.7 percent, at 13,463.14. It had not logged four straight days of gains since mid-June.

The benchmark index has found traction after a month-long skid brought on by the global credit crunch. It tumbled more than 12 percent from a record high hit on July 19, but is up 4.8 percent over the last four trading days.

"I think there's a better-than-50 percent chance that the correction is over, and that we've seen the worst," said Tim Burt, president and chief investment officer at Cardinal Capital Management Inc in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

"But there is still caution and a fair amount of fear on the part of retail investors as to what the near-term outlook for the market is."

TSX miners were among the hardest hit in the index's recent selloff. But yesterday, the mining subindex booked its biggest jump of the year, rising 5.3 percent as bargain hunters scooped up recently depressed stocks and underlying metals prices rose.

Teck Cominco was up C$1.47, or 3.4 percent, at C$44.42, and First Quantum Minerals advanced C$3.95, or 5.2 percent, to C$80.29.

Copper, lead and nickel futures prices were among the biggest gainers on commodity indexes.

Barrick Gold , meanwhile, was up C$1.26, or 3.7 percent, at C$35.34, as bullion futures benefited from a weaker U.S. dollar.

Expectations south of the border that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates also gave a boost to equities markets, while a report that online brokerages TD Ameritrade Holding Corp and E+Trade Financial Corp have been in serious merger discussions lifted financial shares.

Toronto-Dominion Bank , which owns about 40 percent of TD Ameritrade, was up C$1, or 1.5 percent, at C$69.43, while the TSX financials sector gained more than one percent.

John Ing, president of Maison Placements Canada in Toronto, said there has been a calming in the asset-backed commercial paper market, the vortex of Canada's credit crunch.