TORONTO (Reuters) - The resource-heavy main index of the Toronto Stock Exchange climbed nearly 100 points yesterday, boosted by fears that a busy Atlantic storm season would threaten oil and gas supplies.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 94.75 points, or 0.7 percent, at 13,755.23, with the heavyweight energy sector up 1.6 percent.

The price of US crude jumped more than $1 to $75.08 a barrel as Hurricane Felix slammed into Central America, and a top storm forecaster predicted a violent storm season in the oil- and gas-rich Gulf of Mexico.

"If anything, there's concern about the hurricane season, what OPEC is going to do next week, and in the meantime, you've got inventory levels down in the US, so that's giving us some major support here," said Patricia Lovett-Reid, senior vice-president at TD Waterhouse in Toronto.

Energy producers represented five of the top six weighted gainers on the TSX index, with Canadian Natural Resources up C$1.57, or 2.2 percent, at C$73.76, and Suncor Energy up C$1.21, or 1.3 percent, at C$95.81.

Brian Pow, vice president, research and equity analyst at Acumen Capital Partners in Calgary, said he noticed "more people than normal poking around on the energy front".

"We're not out of the woods, and there are still a lot of things that could de-rail it all, but in the short-term we're going to see some positive trading days," he said.

Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups were higher, including materials and consumer staples, up 1.1 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.

Gold futures hit a six-week high, boosting the gold mining subsector 1.8 percent. Barrick Gold advanced 76 Canadian cents, or 2.2 percent, to C$35.09. Telecoms and consumer discretionaries were the sectors that closed the day in negative territory.

The benchmark TSX index gave up 1.5 percent in a V-shaped month of August that was characterized by erratic swings in thin summer trade.