TSX ends up as banks lead rally after rate hike

TORONTO: Canada's main stock index ended higher on Wednesday, with financial stocks leading a broad but shallow rally as the Bank of Canada hiked rates, offsetting losses among gold miners as the price of the precious metal slipped.

* The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 27.82 points, or 0.17 percent, at 16,326.70. Eight of its 10 main sectors gained.

* The financials group, which accounts for more than a third of the index's weight, gained 0.4 percent. Royal Bank of Canada added 0.5 percent to C$106.28, Bank of Montreal gained 0.7 percent to C$103.32, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce finished up 0.5 percent to C$123.02 as they and other lenders moved their own benchmark lending rates up.

* The country's central bank raised interest rates as expected, as job growth and firmer inflation outweighed the cloud of NAFTA uncertainty, but its governor admitted the decision was not a no-brainer.

* The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.9 percent.

* Barrick Gold Corp shed 3.8 percent to C$18.17 and smaller New Gold lost 6.6 percent to C$3.97 as gold prices slipped from a recent four-month high.

* Goldcorp Inc fell 4.4 percent to C$18.29. The miner's chief executive officer said they are "done" with mergers and acquisitions and will focus on building new mines at projects it already owns and on improving existing operations.

* Canopy Growth Corp gained 3 percent to $37.61 after saying on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to supply cannabis to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island and to collaborate on medical cannabis research in Australia.