April 23 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Monday, as financial shares gained and after Bank of Canada chief showed comfort with inflation running above the central bank's 2 percent target.
* At 9:38 a.m. ET (1338 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE rose 28.39 points, or 0.18 percent, to 15,512.71.
* Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said he expects the inflation rate to be above 2 percent in 2018, but he is comfortable with that as long as the long-term trend is steady, according to reports on Sunday. The heavy-weight financial sector gained 0.5 percent, boosted by Toronto-Dominion Bank TD.TO and Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO which were up about 0.5 percent.
* Wall Street opened higher as gains in technology and industrial stocks led optimism about a strong earnings season. 10-year U.S. Treasuries US10YT=RR hit its highest level since January 2014 which sent global stocks lower and hurt prices of oil and gold. O/R GOL/ The energy sector was down 0.3 percent, dragged down by Cenovus Energy trading 1.8 percent lower and Suncor Energy down marginally.
* The materials index, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, was down 0.9 pct as gold prices slipped to their lowest level in nearly two years.
* Seven of the 10 main index sectors were trading higher.
* The TSX posted three new 52-week highs and no new lows. Across all Canadian issues there were six new 52-week highs and eight new lows.
* The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was The Stars Group TSGI.TO , which rose 9.7 percent. The Canadian gaming company on Saturday had agreed to buy Sky Betting and Gaming from owners CVC Capital Partners and Sky Plc (LON:SKYB), in a deal worth $4.7 billion. The largest decliner was Tahoe Resources THO.TO , down 7.4 percent after the company on Saturday reported a labor strike at its La Arena mine in Peru. Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume were Athabasca Oil Co ATH.TO , Aurora Cannabis ACB.TO and Katanga Mining KAT.TO .
* Volume on the TSX index was 10.06 million shares, while the total volume on Monday was 19.08 million shares.