(Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET/ 1430 GMT)

By Nikhil Sharma

Sept 26 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index hit a

record high on Thursday, lifted by consumer discretionary and

mining stocks, as China's assurance of more stimulus lifted

investor sentiment.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index

was up 125.44 points, or 0.52%, at 24,031.32, and was

set for its third record high session for this week.

China on Thursday vowed "necessary fiscal spending" to meet

its growth target and announced plans to issue special sovereign

bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan ($284.43 billion) this year,

following the central bank's policy easing earlier in the week.

The materials sector rose 1.4%, tracking

record-high gold prices, near 12-year high silver prices and

near 16-week high copper prices, boosted by hopes of stronger

metals demand from China.

"China is obviously a big industrial consumer of things like

copper and metals," and the stimulus is positive "for global

economic growth, Chinese economic growth and by extension demand

for Canadian resources," said Brian Madden, chief investment

officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel.

The consumer discretionary sector led the

sectoral gains, rising 1.6%, supported by the shares of auto

parts supplier Magna International ( MGA ).

The energy sector lagged its peers, falling 1.9%,

as it tracked slipping oil prices on prospects of Saudi Arabia

raising output and OPEC+ plans to increase output in December.

On the data front, U.S. weekly jobless claims unexpectedly

fell last week, pointing to a still low level of layoffs and

easing fears over the labor market's health, while the final

reading of gross domestic product showed that the economy grew

3% in the second quarter.

Canada's technology sector was among the top

gainers, rising 1.2%, and in sync with Wall Street's tech-heavy

Nasdaq, which increased 1%, following Micron Technology's ( MU )

upbeat first-quarter forecast.