(Updates with market opening prices)

By Ragini Mathur

Jan 7 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on

Tuesday, lifted by mining and energy shares, while investors

assessed domestic data and braced for political changes after

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his plan to resign.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 0.4%, or 99.04

points, to 25098.83.

Canadian economic activity

expanded at its fastest pace in five months

in December as employment and inventories climbed, Ivey

Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data showed on Tuesday.

Trade figures also released on the day showed Canada

recorded a ninth consecutive monthly trade deficit in November,

albeit smaller than expected.

Tuesday's stock index rise comes a day after Trudeau

said he would step down in the coming months after nine years in

power.

"The government is trying to sort itself out. So the

markets are going to be extremely sensitive to any sort of news

coming when valuations are high," said Michael Sprung, president

at Sprung Investment Management

"One of the keys is going to be the extent of tariffs

after the inauguration of Mr. Trump."

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be

inaugurated on Jan. 20, has threatened

potentially crippling tariffs

on Canada.

On Tuesday, the materials sector rose nearly

2% as weakness in the U.S. dollar pushed gold prices 1% higher.

Energy sector also rose 1.6% on the day as oil prices

reversed early declines.

But information technology lost 1.2%, dragged

by the blockchain farm operator Bitfarms falling 6.5%.

Stateside, Wall Street's main indexes fell on Tuesday after

a batch of upbeat economic data stoked uncertainty among

investors about the pace of U.S. monetary policy easing cycle.