* TSX up 42.54 points, or 0.27 percent, to 15,624.58
* Eight of the TSX's 10 main groups trade higher
TORONTO, May 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Monday as energy and financial stocks led gains, but Home Capital Group Inc HCG.TO shares slid following news its account balance halved and it had suspended its dividend.
Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO rose modestly, but was among the most influential movers on the index. Canada's biggest bank gained 0.4 percent to C$94.12. The financials group rose 0.2 percent, but gains were tempered by a 5.1 percent fall to C$5.55 in Home Capital shares.
Canada's biggest non-bank lender, which also named three new directors to its board and a new chairwoman on Monday, has been hit by uncertainty after a securities regulator alleged earlier this year that executives hid mortgage broker fraud from investors. 10:07 a.m. ET (1407 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE rose 42.54 points, or 0.27 percent, to 15,624.58.
Of the index's 10 main groups, only materials and healthcare lost ground.
The top 10 biggest index drivers were financial or energy stocks. Oil and gas companies, which account for just over a fifth of the index's weight, climbed 0.8 percent.
Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO was up 1.0 percent at C$43.02, while Encana Corp ECA.TO climbed 1.3 percent to C$15.17.
Materials were down just over 0.2 percent, hurt in part by copper prices CMCU3 which hit a four-month low on data showing China imports had slipped. MET/L
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the TSX by 162 to 75, for a 2.16-to-1 ratio on the upside.
The index was posting 12 new 52-week highs and 1 new 52-week low.