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TSX up 0.2%

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Materials sector leads gains

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Tilray Brands does not expect adj. positive FCF; shares

plummet

(Updated at 10:09 a.m. ET/ 1409 GMT)

By Purvi Agarwal

April 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gave back

gains after hitting a record high earlier in the session,

propelled by material stocks, while investors awaited the Bank

of Canada's next interest rate decision later in the week.

At 10:09 a.m. ET (14:09 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's

S&P/TSX composite index was up 42.16 points, or 0.19%,

at 22,302.46.

Materials-linked shares climbed 2.0%, pulled up

by precious and base metal miners like Hudbay Minerals ( HBM )

and SSR Mining ( SSRGF ) that rose 7.5% and 6.9%, respectively,

tracking a surge in gold and copper prices.

Energy shares also rose 0.2%.

However, six of the eleven sectors traded in the red, led by

healthcare shares that declined 5.4%.

It was pulled down by a 18.7% decline in Tilray Brands

after the pot firm said it no longer expected to

generate adjusted positive free cash flow for the fiscal year

2024.

The Bank of Canada is set to announce its next monetary

policy decision on Wednesday, where the central bank is widely

expected to hold interest rates.

However, the last crucial dataset showed on Friday that the

unemployment rate in March was the highest in 26 months, which

solidified bets of a rate cut in June.

"The BoC don't want to cut rates too soon because of the

fear that they could be allowing the genie out of the bottle in

terms of housing," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor

of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.

In corporate news, shares of Blackberry advanced

7.2% after the software firm announced a collaboration with AMD

to develop robotic systems.

Investors will also focus on the monthly reading of the

consumer prices index (CPI) in the U.S. due on Wednesday.

"Some Fed officials are saying one, maybe two (rate cuts) at

most, and some are saying possibly zero. Tomorrow is going to

give a pretty good indication to that."