TSX gains, breaking nine-day fall, but resource stocks weigh

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index broke a nine-session slump on Tuesday, notching a gain in volatile trade despite sustained pressure on energy and mining stocks from slumping prices for crude oil and other commodities.

The heavyweight financials group gained 0.6 percent, while telecom stocks rose 1.4 percent and industrials added 0.8 percent.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) ended the day up 54.65 points, or 0.44 percent, at 12,373.90. It entered into a bear market last week, down more 20 percent from its all-time high in September 2014.

It notched both gains and losses of more than 1 percent during the session, largely tracking an early firming in oil prices before a fresh nosedive below $30 a barrel and then a partial recovery. [O/R]

"For today and broadly for this year, the oil market seems to be dictating the script for the TSX," said Shailesh Kshatriya, a director in the Canadian strategy group at Russell Investments Canada.

"The longer oil prices remain subdued as they are, the greater the collateral damage," he added.

The energy group lost 0.6 percent, although one of its biggest members, Suncor Energy Inc (Toronto:SU.TO - News), advanced 1.6 percent to C$32.42.

The most influential gainers also included Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto:TD.TO - News), up 2 percent at C$52.40, and Canadian National Railway Co (Toronto:CNR.TO - News), which also advanced 2 percent, to C$74.91. Telecom company BCE Inc (Toronto:BCE.TO - News) rose 2 percent to C$55.70.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.8 percent.

Nickel, copper and other industrial metals fell to fresh multi-year lows on rising supply and slowing demand. [MET/L]

Eldorado Gold Corp (Toronto:ELD.TO - News) plunged 19 percent to C$3.53. The company is suspending much of its mining activities in Greece.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd (Toronto:FM.TO - News) lost 8.9 percent to C$3.50.

Goldcorp Inc (Toronto:G.TO - News) fell 2.6 percent to C$16.33. The world's biggest gold producer by market value will increasingly have to look for large deposits outside the Americas as these are scarcer than "hen teeth," its incoming chief executive said on Monday.

Gold futures fell 0.7 percent to $1,088.5 an ounce. [GOL/]

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp and Fergal Smith; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish)