(Adds details on specific stocks, updates prices)
* TSX down 61.19 points, or 0.41 percent, at 15,039.19
* Half of the TSX's 10 main groups fall
TORONTO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was pushed lower on Wednesday by sharp declines among gold mining stocks as the precious metal slid to a nine-month low.
A slew of gold mining stocks, including two of the world's largest gold producers, fell between 3 and 8 percent. Gold prices slumped as strong U.S. data buoyed the U.S. currency and further cemented a case for increasing U.S. interest rates next month. Gold Corp ABX.TO fell 4.9 percent to C$19.63, and Goldcorp Inc G.TO declined 5.1 percent to C$17.22. Kinross Gold Corp K.TO lost 8 percent to C$4.27.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies and accounts for 12 percent of the index's weight, lost 3.2 percent.
Potash Corp POT.TO slipped 0.4 percent to C$23.97. The world's biggest fertilizer maker by capacity said it was reducing output and cutting jobs as the sector struggles with weak prices. energy group also pulled back, off 0.5 percent as oil edged lower on investors' doubts that OPEC would agree a large enough production cut to significantly reduce a global surplus when it meets next week. Energy Inc SU.TO declined 0.6 percent to C$42.37.
At 9:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 61.19 points, or 0.41 percent, to 15,039.19.
The index hit 17-month highs earlier this week.
Half of the index's 10 main groups were in negative territory.
The most influential gainers on the index were financial stocks, which continue to rally as bond yields push higher in the wake of Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election earlier this month.
Bank of Montreal BMO.TO rose 0.8 percent to C$89.1, and insurer Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO add 0.3 percent to C$23.6. The overall financials group, which accounts for more than a third of the index's weight, gained 0.2 percent.