(Adds portfolio manager comments, details on gold stocks,
Brookfield Asset Management and consumer discretionary stocks,
updates prices)
* TSX closed up 13.02 points, or 0.09 percent, at 13,788.21
* Index touched its highest since May 3 of 13,829.73.
* Five of the TSX's 10 main groups ended higher
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, May 11 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged
higher on Wednesday, led by the energy and materials groups
after a drop in oil inventories pushed crude higher and gold
rebounded from nearly two-week lows.
The index has rebounded from a nearly-four week low on
Monday as oil rallied but its recovery has held short of the
six-month high of 13,972.62 reached at the end of April.
"There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about gold and oil
pricing," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at
Subodh Kumar & Associates.
Investors are grappling with the impact of lower oil prices
on oil company operations and how soon production will come back
in Alberta, he added.
Workers for one of the largest oil sands companies affected
by a massive wildfire in northern Canada will begin returning to
the shuttered facilities on Thursday, a union official said.
Encana Corp ECA.TO surged 13.4 percent to C$8.97, while
the overall energy group gained 1 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled at $46.23 a barrel, up
3.52 percent, after the U.S. government unexpectedly said crude
inventories fell the first time since March.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.1 percent.
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO rose 2.2 percent to C$23.71,
while First Quantum Minerals Ltd FM.TO was up 8.2 percent at
C$9.23.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.8 percent at $1,276.68 an ounce as
the U.S. dollar and global shares fell.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed up 13.02 points, or 0.09 percent, at 13,788.21.
It touched its highest since May 3 of 13,829.73.
Five of the index's 10 main groups ended higher.
Financials rose 0.2 percent, including a 0.8 percent advance
in the shares of Sun Life Financial Inc SLF.TO to C$43.14.
The company reported a 13-percent increase in underlying net
income in the first quarter, exceeding estimates.
InnVest Real Estate Investment INN_u.TO said that it has
entered into an agreement to be bought by Bluesky Hotels and
Resorts. Its shares jumped more than 29 percent to C$7.07.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO fell 1.5 percent
to C$43.56. The company has offered to buy a division of
state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA's natural gas pipeline
unit.
The shares of Kinross Gold Corp K.TO fell 4.8 percent to
C$6.81 after the company reported on Tuesday lower-than-expected
quarterly revenue.
Industrials lost 0.7 percent as railway stocks dragged,
while consumer discretionary stocks fell 1.4 percent.