(Adds details on sectors and stocks throughout, updates prices)
* TSX up 39.89 points, or 0.29 percent, to 13,907.17
* Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups were higher
TORONTO, April 20 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose
on Wednesday to a near six-month high as financial and material
shares rose, while lower oil prices weighed on energy stocks.
The index has rallied more than 20 percent since hitting a
near 3-1/2-year low in January, a threshold considered by some
as indicative of a bull market. However, its September 2014 peak
at 15,685.13 remains well out of view.
The most influential movers on the index included Bank of
Nova Scotia BNS.TO , which rose 0.9 percent to C$64.92, and
Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO , which advanced 0.5 percent to
C$78.71. The overall financials group rose 0.5 percent.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, rose 0.7 percent. It included a
4.8 percent rise in the shares of Teck Resources Ltd TCKb.TO
to C$13.98.
Consumer staples advanced 0.8 percent, led by a 2.6 percent
gain for Metro Inc MRU.TO to C$43.11.
At 10:34 a.m. EDT (1434 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE rose 39.89 points, or 0.29
percent, to 13,907.17. Eight of the index's 10 main groups were
higher.
The energy group fell 0.9 percent, pressured by a drop in
oil prices. Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO fell 1.8 percent to
C$36.46, while Cenovus Energy Inc CVE.TO was down 0.9 percent
at C$17.81.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were down 1.2 percent to $40.59 a
barrel after Kuwaiti oil workers ended a three-day strike. O/R
The shares of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd CP.TO fell 2.1
percent to C$186.03. The company said it planned to repurchase
up to 5 percent of its shares, just over a week after abandoning
a bid to buy Norfolk Southern Corp (NYSE:NSC) NSC.N .