Canada's main stock index was little changed on Monday after hitting record highs last week, as investors held off from making big bets ahead of a busy week for corporate earnings.

At 9:40 a.m. ET (13:38 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was flat. Rogers Communication , Canadian Pacific Railway and Precision Drilling Corp are among the companies slated to report earnings this week.

Canadian housing starts rose 21.6% in March compared with the previous month, easily beating expectations and hitting a new record, data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed on Monday.

The energy sector climbed 0.1% as US crude prices were up 0.1% a barrel, while Brent crude was unchanged.

The financials sector gained 0.2%. The industrials sector rose 0.1%.

The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.4% as gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,772.8 an ounce.

On the TSX, 100 issues were higher, while 120 issues declined for a 1.20-to-1 ratio to the downside, with 10.82 million shares traded.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Mullen Group, which jumped 4.4%, and Westport Fuel Systems , which rose 4.2%.

Boralex fell 3.2%, the most on the TSX, while the second-biggest decliner was Lightspeed POS Inc, down 3.1%.

The most heavily traded shares by volume were Bombardier , Nevada Copper and The Supreme Cannabis .

The TSX posted 21 new 52-week highs and one new low.

Across all Canadian issues there were 85 new 52-week highs and four new lows, with total volume of 27.45 million shares.