(Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday as data showed domestic manufacturing activity expanded in September at its fastest pace in more than two years, bolstering optimism around a post-coronavirus economic recovery.
* The IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 56.0 in September, its highest level since August 2018.
* At 9:35 a.m. ET (1335 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 86.47 points, or 0.54%, at 16,207.85.
* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.8% as gold futures rose 1.0% to $1,905.7 an ounce.
* The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was CAE Inc, which jumped 6.1% after BMO upgraded the rating of the flight simulator maker's stock to "outperform" from "market perform."
* Its gains were followed by Brookfield Property Partners L.P (TO:BPY_u), which rose 2.7%.
* The energy sector dropped 0.3% as U.S. crude prices were down 3.1% a barrel, while Brent crude lost 2.8%. [O/R]
* On the TSX, 179 issues were higher, while 36 issues declined for a 4.97-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with 8.29 million shares traded.
* Cenovus Energy Inc (TO:CVE) fell 4%, the most on the TSX, after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "neutral" and the second-biggest decliner was NovaGold Resources Inc (TO:NG), down 3.0%.
* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Orosur Mining Inc (TO:OMI), Avalon Advanced Materials Inc (TO:AVL), and NextSource Materials Inc (TO:NEXT).
* The TSX posted four new 52-week highs and no new lows.
* Across all Canadian issues, there were seven new 52-week highs and four new lows, with total volume of 20.71 million shares.