(Adds details on specific stocks, updates prices)
* TSX down 76.31 points, or 0.49 percent, to 15,422.49.
* Half of the TSX's 10 main groups move lower
TORONTO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday as a third day of oil price losses weighed on its large energy sector and disappointing results from an insurer led financial stocks lower.
Gains for gold and base metal miners on higher commodity prices helped offset the downswing, while Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO gained 2.8 percent to C$2.62 after Canada said it would provide the plane and train maker with C$372.5 million in repayable loans for two of its jet programs and defend the deal from the trade challenge Brazil formally launched on Wednesday. 9:58 a.m. ET (1458 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 76.31 points, or 0.49 percent, at 15,422.49.
The energy group retreated 1.9 percent as oil prices extended a recent slide with a big increase in U.S. crude inventories and a slump in Chinese demand. O/R
Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO fell 2.1 percent to C$39.76, while pipeline operator Enbridge Inc ENB.TO declined 1.4 percent to C$54.92.
The heavyweight financials group lost 0.7 percent after notching solid gains in recent days on a reassessment of the likely pace of U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
Shares in Intact Financial Corp IFC.TO , the country's largest property and casualty insurer, fell 3.8 percent to C$91.72 after the company missed quarterly operating profit expectations on weakness in its auto insurance business. materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.9 percent, with gold miners making strong gains as political risk pushed bullion to a three-month peak. GOL
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO advanced 1.3 percent to C$25.78 and Goldcorp Inc G.TO advanced 1.2 percent to C$22.29
Base metals miners also gained, as copper prices rose after the world's top two mines said strikes and permit delays would force them to cut output, squeezing global supply. Quantum Minerals Ltd FM.TO advanced 1.1 percent to C$16.10 and Lundin Mining Corp LUN.TO was up 3.2 percent at C$8.17.
The exchange operator itself, TMX Group Ltd X.TO , was barely lower at C$69.77 after it said it is in talks to convince Saudi Arabia to list its initial public offering of state-owned Saudi Aramco in Canada. Ltd BB.TO shares rose 0.4 percent to C$9.45. The company said on Tuesday it would make its BBM secure-messaging system available for software developers to build into their own products.
Half of the index's 10 groups were lower, with declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.55-to-1 ratio.