(Updates with morning prices, analyst quote)

By Rashika Singh

April 1 (Reuters) - Canada's resource-heavy stock index

rose on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a

resolution to the Middle East conflict could be within reach,

though a fall in oil prices capped gains.

At 11:09 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX

Composite Index was up 1% at 33,093.22

Trump told Reuters on Wednesday the U.S. would withdraw from

Iran "pretty quickly" and conduct limited strikes only when

needed. He is scheduled to deliver a national address at 9 p.m.

ET.

Canada's heavyweight energy sector fell 4% as oil

prices retreated after Trump's remarks suggested the month-long

war could be nearing an end.

"Investors will maintain some positions in energy... but they

may come back to mining and financials, which are another big

part of our index," said Shiraz Ahmed, founder at Sartorial

Wealth.

Meanwhile, the materials sector, which includes

stocks of metal miners, advanced 2.3% and was the top gainer on

the TSX as gold prices climbed to a near two-week peak on a

softer U.S. dollar.

The financials sector rose 1%.

"This has been a bit of a war of attrition between Iran and

the U.S., and hopefully cooler heads prevail and everybody

decides to de-escalate," Ahmed added.

The TSX posted a monthly loss of 4.6% in March, its steepest

decline since May 2023, as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran

roiled global markets and drove up energy prices.

A pullback in oil prices could help ease some pressure on

central banks, even as geopolitical risks continue to stoke

inflation concerns. Money markets expect the Bank of Canada to

hold rates in April, while pricing in nearly two hikes by

year-end, LSEG data showed.

Meanwhile, Canada's Finance Minister Francois-Philippe

Champagne is set to travel to China this week in a visit aimed

at strengthening strategic and economic ties.

Among individual stocks, shares of goeasy Ltd fell

7.4% after it reported a quarterly adjusted loss, while those of

Ivanhoe Mines ( IVPAF ) slumped 9.7% after the company cut output

estimates for its Democratic Republic of Congo mine.