CANADA STOCKS-TSX ends higher as resource shares offset downbeat bank earnings

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TSX ends up 4.11 points at 20,036.77

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Energy rallies 0.8%; oil settles 2.1% higher

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Bank of Nova Scotia slides on Q4 profit miss

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First Quantum falls on Panama court ruling

(Adds investor quotes)

By Fergal Smith

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Canada's commodity-linked main stock index ended higher on Tuesday, recouping its earlier decline, as gains for energy and gold mining shares offset weakness in financials following Bank of Nova Scotia's profit miss.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended up 4.11 points at 20,036.77, after earlier hitting its lowest intraday level in two weeks.

"The fact that the TSX managed to climb into slightly positive territory, it's encouraging, because it points to the index's increasing level of diversification," said Elvis Picardo, a portfolio manager at Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth.

"Today's slide in the banks' shares is being offset by some of the energy and commodity producers."

The energy sector rallied 0.8% as the price of oil settled 2.1% higher at $76.41 a barrel on the possibility OPEC+ will extend or deepen supply cuts.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 2.5% as gold climbed to a more than six-month high, driven by a retreating U.S. dollar and expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve has finished hiking interest rates.

In contrast, Bank of Nova Scotia shares fell 4.4% after the lender missed fourth-quarter profit estimates, while the financials sector lost 0.8%.

"Scotia's earnings miss, on higher loan loss provisions, it's a reminder that the Canadian economy is on shaky ground due to excessive levels of consumer debt," Picardo said.

The TSX is on track for a monthly advance of 6.2%, which would be its biggest since January, as hopes grow that global interest rates have peaked.

Shares of First Quantum Minerals Ltd shed 0.8% after Panama's Supreme Court ruled the miner's contract to operate a lucrative copper mine in the Central American nation is unconstitutional. (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)