The Canadian stock advanced on Tuesday as better-than-expected import data from China helped investors look past signs of a slowing Chinese economy.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up nearly 80 points, or 0.66 percent, at 12,276.68 while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index gained 10.62 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,538.10.

The China Customs said on Tuesday that the December imports rose 11.8 percent over the previous year, down from November's 22. 1 percent gain. Exports rose 13.4 percent, down only marginally from the previous month. The global trade surplus widened to 16.5 billion U.S. dollars.

China has been a major prop in helping the global economy recover since the financial crisis of late 2008, driving up stock prices for oil and metals and commodity on the resource-heavy Canadian stock market.

The heavily-weighed materials sector led the early gains, rising more than 2 percent, as base metal and gold mining stocks rose on healthy import data from China, which boosted investor optimism for the global economy. First Quantum Minerals spiked 6 percent to 22.88 Canadian dollars, as the Chinese data also revealed that copper imports hit a record high in December.

Energy shares rose approximately 1 percent as oil prices climbed above 102 U.S. dollars a barrel on geopolitical tensions over Iran's nuclear program and threats by Tehran to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping route.

Financials sector on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which has been seen as less exposed to European debt holdings than most of its global counterparts, were up 0.23 percent, led by Royal Bank of Canada, whose shares rose 0.36 percent to 52.43 Canadian dollars. But worries still remained about the health of eurozone banks as well as sovereign debt levels in Greece and other EU countries.

Economically speaking, the outlook for the Canadian economy also improved as Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation said Tuesday morning that housing starts were up more than 14,000 to 200,000 units in December from the month before, even as analysts predicted the once-hot sector would cool further in 2012.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar gathered 0.74 of a cent to 98.37 U.S. cents. One U.S. dollar was buying 1.0163 Canadian dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Tuesday, compared with 1.0233 on Monday.