Feb 20 (Reuters) - Gains in material companies pulled higher Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, as gold prices rose on hopes of a trade deal between the United States and China.
* Investors are focused on the latest developments in the talks in Washington, and President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested he was open to extending the deadline to complete negotiations. Up to now, it was assumed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports would rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if no deal was reached by the March 1 deadline
* The materials sector .GSPTTMT , which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.2 percent as gold futures GCc1 rose 0.1 percent to $1,341.9 an ounce.
* Barrick Gold ABX.TO rose 1.6 percent after the miner outlined a plan to settle disputes between its Acacia Mining ACAA.L unit and Tanzania's government. The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO , which jumped 5.4 percent. Hudbay Minerals HBM.TO followed, up 2.6 percent after posting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
* At 9:44 a.m. ET (14:44 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was up 27.71 points, or 0.17 percent, at 15,965.15.
* Five of the index's 11 major sectors were lower, weighed down by the energy sector's 0.1 percent drop.
* U.S. crude CLc1 prices were down 0.5 percent a barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 0.7 percent. O/R
* On the TSX, 100 issues were higher, while 132 declined for a 1.32-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 21.76 million shares traded.
* Uni-Select Inc UNS.TO fell 21.7 percent, the most on the TSX, after the auto parts distributor's fourth-quarter results failed to impress.
The second biggest decliner was Aritzia Inc ATZ.TO , down 7.9 percent after a secondary stock offering.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier Inc BBDb.TO , Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB.TO and Crius Energy Trust KWH_u.TO .
* The TSX posted one new 52-week high and one new low.
* Across all Canadian issues there were 22 new 52-week highs and three new lows, with total volume of 36.83 million shares.