TORONTO: Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday, boosted by strong gains in the energy and material sectors.
Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and Enbridge were among the top four boosts to the index, rising between 0.8 and 1.6 percent.
Prices of Brent crude oil and of spot gold were flat, recovering from dips earlier in the session.
Nine of the eleven sector groups were in positive territory.
A report showed economic growth data unexpectedly slowed in January in a clear sign that first-quarter growth is likely to be weaker than the Bank of Canada had predicted.
Canada's growth dwindled 0.1 percent last month, while analysts were expecting a rise of 0.1 percent after a revised 0.2 percent gain in December.
"This reinforces the point that there is little urgency to hike rates again," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group.
At 9:41 a.m. ET (1341 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 104.33 points, or 0.69 percent, to 15,274.27.
Still, the index is on track for its biggest quarterly drop in more than two years.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Methanex , which rose 3.8 percent, while the largest decliner was Prometic Life Sciences, down 26.6 percent.
Among the most active stocks by volume were Neovasc Inc , Prometic Life Sciences and Aurora Cannabis .
The TSX posted no new 52-week highs and three new lows. Across all Canadian issues there were four new 52-week highs and nine new lows.
Volume on the TSX index was 14.19 million shares, while the total volume on Thursday was 24.23 million shares.
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