Sept 26 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index climbed on Wednesday, supported by banking stocks ahead of a widely expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
* At 9:49 a.m. ET (1349 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was up 52.06 points, or 0.32 percent, at 16,211.56.
* Wall Street's three main indices edged higher, as investors widely expected a third interest rate hike by the U.S. central bank while awaiting for clues about the pace of further monetary policy tightening. .N
* Nine of the index's 11 major sectors were trading higher, led by a 0.4 percent rise in the financial sector .SPTTFS .
* Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO , Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO , Bank of Montreal BMO.TO and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM.TO each rose between 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent.
* The industrials sector .GSPTTIN gained 0.4 percent.
* The energy sector .SPTTEN inched up 0.1 percent. U.S. crude CLc1 prices per barrel were down 0.7 percent, while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 0.8 percent. O/R
* The top decliner was the materials sector .GSPTTMT , which lost 1.1 percent as spot gold XAU= fell 0.5 percent to $1,194.79 an ounce, while copper prices CMCU3 declined 0.5 percent to $6,285 a tonne. GOL/ MET/L
* The top gainers on the TSX were Magna International MG.TO , which jumped 1.7 percent and Dream Office REIT D_u.TO , which rose 1.5 percent.
* Pretium Resources PVG.TO fell 3.5 percent, the most on the TSX. The second biggest decliner was CES Energy Solutions Corp CEU.TO , with a 3.3 percent slide.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Royal Nickel RNX.TO , Aurora Cannabis ACB.TO and Trevali Mining TV.TO .
* The TSX posted one new 52-week high and two new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues there were five new 52-week highs and 12 new lows, with total volume of 36.74 million shares.