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TSX flat

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Materials sector declines offset by broader gains

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Energy Fuels to buy Australian Base Resources; shares fall

(Updated at 10:00 a.m. ET/ 1400 GMT)

By Purvi Agarwal

April 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index remained

flat on Monday despite weakness in resource stocks as broader

market gains took hold with global markets buoyed by easing

Middle East tensions.

At 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's

S&P/TSX composite index was down 7.52 points, or

0.03%, at 21,799.85.

The material sector, which houses Canadian miners

and fertilizer companies, dropped 2.2% and was set for its worst

day in over two months.

It was pulled down by miners such as K92 Mining ( KNTNF ) and

NOVAGOLD Resources ( NG ) that fell 5.1% and 4.7%, the highest

amongst the sectors, tracking sharp declines in precious metal

prices.

Energy shares followed suit with a 0.3% slide on

declining oil prices.

Declines were limited by technology stocks that

rose 0.7% pulled up by a 5.2% and 2.7% gain in crypto miners Hut

8 and Bitfarms ( BITF ), respectively, as Bitcoin

rose 3.3%.

The TSX outperformed its Wall Street peers on Friday, ending

0.5% higher, while paring some of its weekly declines to end the

week 0.4% lower.

Wall Street, however, opened higher on Monday after steep

losses in the previous session.

During the week, the monthly reading of the personal

consumption expenditure (PCE) in the U.S., which is the Federal

Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, is on the radar.

"We've been getting higher and hotter inflation data out of

the US that has caused some anxiety for the markets. (This

number) is going to be key," said Allan Small, senior investment

advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private

Wealth.

Investors will also focus on the big tech earnings in the

United States, with giants like Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet

and Meta reporting their quarterly earnings

this week.

In Canadian corporate news, shares of uranium miner Energy

Fuels fell 8.7% after it announced a deal to buy

Australia's Base Resources ( BSRUF ) for about $241 mln.