CANADA STOCKS-TSX closes at one-week high as railways, miners gain

(Adds strategist comment, updates prices to close)
* TSX ends up 119.58 points, or 0.90 percent, at 13,399.97
* Nine of the TSX's 10 main groups rise

By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose
to its highest close in more than a week on Wednesday led by
railways, after Canadian Pacific disclosed a takeover bid, and
helped by pipeline companies and a bounce back for gold miners.
The index extended earlier gains after the release of
minutes from the last U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting
bolstered bets on a December interest rate hike. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nTLAIMEB1F
The most influential gainer on the index was Canadian
Pacific Railway Ltd CP.TO , which rose 5.6 percent to C$194.94
after the company made public a proposal to buy Norfolk Southern (N:NSC)
that it said could help it save $1.8 billion. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N13D4D4
Its rival, Canadian National Railway Co CNR.TO , advanced
2.3 percent to C$78.72.
The overall industrials group gained 2 percent, while the
materials group rose 2.6 percent as gold miners rebounded
despite only minor gains for bullion. GOL/
Goldcorp Inc G.TO gained 4 percent to C$15.83 and Barrick
Gold Corp ABX.TO added 3.7 percent to C$9.63.
"A bulk of the pressure from commodities and commodity
stocks are probably behind us," said Sid Mokhtari, market
technician and director of institutional equity research at CIBC
World Markets. "We've already had a massive amount of selling."
Teck Resources Ltd TCKb.TO gained 1 percent to C$6.29
after the largest producer of steel-making coal in North America
said it would cut its work force by about 9 percent.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N13D24D
Mokhtari said investors may shuffle from commodity stocks
and utilities into financials including insurance companies as
the Fed gets closer to raising rates and the U.S. dollar
continues to strengthen.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE settled up 119.58 points, or 0.90 percent, at
13,399.97.
Nine of the index's 10 main groups gained, with energy
stocks slipping 0.25 percent.
Suncor Energy SU.TO , the country's largest oil and gas
producer, declined 2.8 percent to C$37.48 after it said 2016
capital spending will increase and production will slip.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N13C2W1
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd COS.TO , which Suncor has offered to
buy, fell 4.9 percent to C$8.98.
Those losses were offset by gains for pipeline companies.
Enbridge Inc ENB.TO advanced 1.3 percent to C$50.28 and
TransCanada Corp TRP.TO gained 1.6 percent to C$43.14.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices settled up 0.2 percent at $40.75 a
barrel, while Brent LCOc1 added 1.5 percent to $44.24. O/R

(Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Brown)