TSX ends up as banks lead rally after rate hike

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended higher on Wednesday, with financial stocks leading a broad but shallow rally as the Bank of Canada hiked rates, offsetting losses among gold miners as the price of the precious metal slipped. - The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> ended up 27.82 points, or 0.17 percent, at 16,326.70. Eight of its 10 main sectors gained. - The financials group, which accounts for more than a third of the index's weight, gained 0.4 percent. Royal Bank of Canada added 0.5 percent to C$106.28, Bank of Montreal gained 0.7 percent to C$103.32, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce finished up 0.5 percent to C$123.02 as they and other lenders moved their own benchmark lending rates up. - The country's central bank raised interest rates as expected, as job growth and firmer inflation outweighed the cloud of NAFTA uncertainty, but its governor admitted the decision was not a no-brainer. - The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.9 percent. - Barrick Gold Corp shed 3.8 percent to C$18.17 and smaller New Gold lost 6.6 percent to C$3.97 as gold prices slipped from a recent four-month high. - Goldcorp Inc fell 4.4 percent to C$18.29. The miner's chief executive officer said they are "done" with mergers and acquisitions and will focus on building new mines at projects it already owns and on improving existing operations. - Canopy Growth Corp gained 3 percent to $37.61 after saying on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to supply cannabis to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island and to collaborate on medical cannabis research in Australia. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz)